How Economics Became a Mathematical Science (Science and Cultural Theory)

Book Description

In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists’ changing images of mathematics.
Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book’s author.
This work will interest economists, mathematicians, philosophers, and historians of science, sociologists of science, and science studies scholars.

Customer Reviews:

Reader comment.......2006-12-07

I do not know who Michael Brady is, nor what his difficulties are. His comments on this book however are bizarre. Not one element of his "note" is connected to anything I wrote in this book, which is a history, not a presentation of Keynes. He seems to have a personal interpretation of Keynes, sort of like a personal relationship with God, and it seems to lead him to think anyone else cares, or is presenting counter-interpretations. This is wild stuff. Read the book for yourself, or any of the more than a dozen published reviews in several languages, or the award citations from the History of Economics Society or The Society for the History of Economics (each of which presented this book with its best book award), to check my veracity.

Economics is not a (mathematical) science.......2004-11-12

The fundamental problem with E Roy Weintraub's book is his a priori belief,reflected in the title,that economics is already a mathematical science.Economics is currently in the same class as administration,accounting,management,finance,marketing,communications,law or urban/regional studies.It is a field,study ,discipline or profession.It is not a science or an art, except in the hands of someone like John Maynard Keynes,Joseph A Schumpeter or Paul Samuelson.The recognition of this fact explains why Alfred Nobel forbade the awarding of any Nobel prize to any economist.It explains why Leon Walras's attempts to be awarded either the Nobel Prize in Literature or Peace were unanimously rejected.The reader of this review should also realize that the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science is not a Nobel Prize.The only winner of this prize who could also be legitimately awarded a Nobel Prize is Paul Samuelson. It is a simple matter to demonstrate that economics is not presently a mathematical science,unless Weintraub's study refers to the fact that economists spend all their time trying to reinterpret, and apply in an ad hoc fashion to economics ,the original mathematical analysis of physicists,chemists,biologists and engineers.Consider the case of the differential calculus analysis presented by Keynes in the General Theory(GT).Keynes's analysis of his D-Z model is presented on pp.55-56,ft.2,pp.280-286,pp.304-306,and on pp.271-278,although this latter analysis would require that the reader of the GT already be familiar with A C Pigou's model as contained in Part II of The Theory of Unemployment(1933)in chapters 8-10.Keynes's analysis of his Y-multiplier model is contained on pp.114-117,126,and p.209 of the GT.Any reader of this review who has taken and presumably passed a lower division course in the first semester of calculus and analytic geometry can obtain Keynes's original models simply by integrating (taking the anti derivative of)Keynes's differential analysis as listed on the pages mentioned above.This has not been done by a single economist since the publication of the GT in 1936.Instead,there has been a 68 year period of"What did Keynes mean?"articles and books.Both E Roy Weintraub and his father,Sydney Weintraub,have contributed to some of the thousands of books,articles, book reviews and contributions to books that never answer the question .The question is never answered because the economists appear to have forgotten how to integrate Keynes's derivatives.For example,it is obvious that Keynes's expected aggregate supply function,Z,can't possibly be equal to pO,as claimed by ,for instance,E Roy Weintraub and Paul Davidson,where p equals an actual price and O equals real output.Simple integration of Keynes's derivatives on either pp.55-56,ft.2 or pp.283-285 reveals that Z must be equal to P+wN,where P is equal to expected economic profit,w is a constant short run money wage,and N is total employment.A simple reading of chapter 20 reveals that Keynes's expected aggregate demand function is D=pO,WHERE p IS AN EXPECTED PRICE,not an actual price.Keynes's D=Z locus makes perfect sense.Unfortunately,this simple result has not been obtained by economists,because economics is not a mathematical science.One can,of course, hope that economics may evolve sufficiently in the future so as to move in the direction of becoming a mathematical science.

Essential to understanding HET.......2003-10-14

E. Roy Weintraub investigates the relationship between the development of mathematics and economics. He argues that by ignoring that mathematics too is a changing field, historians of economic thought have missed important distinctions. In clarifying the strange relationship between Marshall and mathematical methods in economics he shows how this distinctions give new, important insights. He traces the story of the mathematician Griffith C. Evans and his attempt to do mathematical economics like physics with quantifyable data (influenced by Volterra). In his next chapter he looks at Hilberts influence in mathematics, which is distinct from his impact on metamathematics. Having set the stage for abstract formalisms, he investigates how Gerard Debreu has brought the views of Nicolas Bourbaki, a important abstractionist movement, into economics.
The following two chapters aim to clarify the differences between mathematical and economic culture. As an illustration, he gives a account of a unfruitful correspondence between Don Patinkin and the eccentric mathematician, Cecil Phipps, who also was influencial in the puplication of the famous existence proof of Arrow and Debreu.
After this, Weintraub get's personal and tells the story of his economist father and mathematician uncle and how economics become a topic for well trained mathematicians. Weintraub also tells his own story of a economist turned mathematician as a example of a large inflow of mathematicians into economics.
The last chapter is dedicated to methodological issues.

How Economics Became a Mathematical Science. (Book Reviews).(How Economics Became a Mathematical Science)(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Southern Economic Journal

Average customer rating:

How Economics Became a Mathematical Science. (Book Reviews).(How Economics Became a Mathematical Science)(Book Review) (book review): An article from: Southern Economic Journal
Bruce Caldwell
Manufacturer: Southern Economic Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Southern Economic Journal, published by Southern Economic Association on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 2674 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: How Economics Became a Mathematical Science. (Book Reviews).(How Economics Became a Mathematical Science)(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Bruce Caldwell
Publication: Southern Economic Journal (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: Southern Economic Association
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Page: 1011(5)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

One of the leading pioneers in the field of organizational change argues that real transformation does not result from corporate mandate but from the expression of the spirit and passion of the people in the organization. He suggests ways to release this spirit and dissipate the "Soul Pollution" -- apathy, stress, and exhaustion -- that plagues today's workforce.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Read!.......2002-02-23

Harrison Owen's book has its share of shortcomings, but there is certainly something to recommend here as well. Owen's explanations of organizational change, complex adaptive systems and chaos theory as they apply to business and innovation are lucid and easy to understand. Less appealing are his lapses into jargon that seems more appropriate to a yoga class than a human resources department, and the theoretical tone that permeates the book. We from getAbstract recommend this book to anyone in search of an alternative perspective on modern management.

The Difference That Makes a Difference..........2001-02-09

is that this book is clearly written from the heart, and offers a deeply human solution to the "soul pollution" in today's workplace. I've read most the well known books on organizational change/transformation - and there are some excellent ones - but this one really rings true.

Mr. Owen suggests that management, a barely disguised euphemism for control, is a figment of our imagination. He holds that choas is actually the natural state of human affairs, not the exception. If we let go of outdated beliefs, and simply observe how things really get done, we will transform toxic workplaces into inspired organizations. By simply embracing what is.

Like a lot of people, especially women, I left corporate America because I was unable to reconcile their values w/ mine. Always puzzled by people who contrasted their "work personalities" with their "real personalities", I'm more convinced than ever that separating from ourselves at work is not only unnecessary, but destroys the organization along with the selves that make it up!

Spending time with Harrison Owen's voice allows you to hear your own.

Book Description

This best-selling volume presents the principles and applications of physical chemistry as they are used to solve problems in biology and medicine. The First Law; the Second Law; free energy and chemical equilibria; free energy and physical Equilibria; molecular motion and transport properties; kinetics: rates of chemical reactions; enzyme kinetics; the theory and spectroscopy of molecular structures and interactions: molecular distributions and statistical thermodynamics; and macromolecular structure and X-ray diffraction. For anyone interested in physical chemistry as it relates to problems in biology and medicine.

Customer Reviews:

Complete Solutions Manual in the Collectible Section is worth its weight in GOLD!.......2007-02-12

Hi everyone, I just got my exam score emailed to me from Physical Chemistry (the one with some calculus involved). Guess what? I got a 96%. The class average was 45%. The professor told me my exam had the highest score ever in this class.

I found that all the test had were problems from the book. I remember procrastinating and not getting any studying done. So the night before the exam, I just memorized all the solutions, and I got a 96%.

The professor told me to get an A in the class, all I need to do is get above a D on the next 2 exams. Man, what a relief. My friends envy me, my professor worships me, and I owe it all to this solutions manual.

I was at first skeptical about its price, but it was worth so much more. Can you put a price on getting an A? Can you? Can you really? Its going to be alot more than $120, which was how much I paid for the well-needed solutions manual.

I just hope too many students don't get the manual, because then professors might figure out that there is a solutions manual (my professor has NO IDEA THIS BOOK HAS A SOLUTIONS MANUAL!).

So if you do end up getting the manual, just use it for yourself, don't even show your friends or bring it to class. Just use it on your own, memorize the solutions, get your A+ in the class, tell all your friends and your professor that you just studied VERY HARD, and leave it at that.

The less the number of people that know about this solutions manual, the better. Also, since this was my first time using amazon.com, make sure that when you add the item to your card, the description should say "SOLUTIONS MANUAL." I bought it from the collectible section, and in the description it said that it was the "complete solutions manual."

Good luck in mastering physical chemistry;I won't need luck, I got the solutions manual!

Get the SOLUTIONS MANUAL; Best decision I ever made in my ENTIRE LIFE. ONLY one in my class who got an A, let alone an A+.......2006-10-01

Hello mates,

I don't write any reviews, but when I got my first physical chemistry test back to day, I just had to write this out. THIS BOOK WAS IN THE COLLECTIBLE SECTION OF THE NEW AND USED SECTION. All my test had were questions from the book, and some that were very much like the book (only changed numbers). I procrastinated to study as usual, and all I did was study the solutions manual, and I was the ONLY STUDENT TO GET AN A+. THE ONLY ONE IN THE CLASS. My professor asked me to become a tutor, and now I'm getting paid.

All in all, physical chemistry is tough, BUT you WILL GET AN A with the solutions manual! You have my word, and my experience to prove it.

Excellent Solutions Manual; Helped me get an A+ without much work!.......2006-09-29

When I received it, OH MY GOD, it had DETAILED ANSWERS to every single problem in the book. Whats more, my physical chemistry course had questions from the book on its test, and all I did was memorize the solutions and got an A+. I can't believe it!

I even corrected my professor on a few problems; my professor didn't even know there was a solutions manual and I wasn't about to tell him there was.

All in all, I just wanted to post my awesome experience. It was a great help. Just like in Physics, Chemistry, or biology, a solutions manual can only augment your skills. Plus it wasn't too long, about 100 pages.

Also, the other reviewer who said the solutions manual was bad must've bought another edition (older one), because the solutions manual I received had ALL THE SOLUTIONS to ALL THE PROBLEMS in COMPLETELY WORKED OUT form.

someone really did only for the money or ...........2005-10-15

simply this book is terrible.

despite the impression the publisher wanna impose on the readers by citing the authors' notable teaching positions, it immediately loses whole credibility it tries to establish as a decent book by failing too soon in every respect, begining from the chapter 2.

i have read two other p.chem books and personally do not like the babish differential appoaches all of them give out invariably and rather forcing the concept that differential operators are "infinitesimal quantities." I understand that authors chose this crude and uber-ancient interpretation(along with other mathematical nonsenses) to reach the widest audience possible but this sort attempt makes the book fraught with confusing junks. And this particular book does not fail to follow this safe yet confusing approach. However, unlike other p.chem texts(at least for the atkin's and levine's) it abuses the mathematical notations and forces equations by ignoring constraints to come up with formulas. For example, to derive the partials of the extensive functions(chapter 4) it just intergrate all the different partials(dual base coeffients and its corresponding dual base) and somehow comes up with definite integrals. Anyone who took decent calculus class would know that the inverse map of the differential map is not that simple unless the variables are not related to each other. Other texts at least offer the constraints, although not explicitly(this subsequently makes the unwary readers oblivious about the specific conditions in which the pertaining equation is applicable).

anyhoo, the book is way too superflous with mathematical nonsenses and tries really hard to get rid of diffcult concepts by presenting concepts as "definitions." More frusrating than this is the fact that it completely lacks the proper motivation building-up before presenting particular concepts or formulas. Perhaps the authors of this book are truly convinced that all the future-biochemist/MD wanna-bes are faithful believers of the ubiquitous yet unspoken notion that all of our current scientific knowledges are nothing more than mere remnants of forcefully fed informations on a few chosen human beings many years ago despite their vehement refusals.

Just buy another p-chem book and use a good biochem text(such as voet's) instead of using this book. Making connection between the physical chemistry and biological science is not that difficult. If you can't you always got internet.

Terrible Book.......2005-09-23

This is an absolutely horrible textbook, derivations and applications of physical chemistry equations are poorly explained. Very few examples of how to use the equations provided. This text was required for my second year Phys Chem course, and did nothing but confuse me!

Molecular Fluorescence: Principles and Applications

Average customer rating:

great for beginners, but too few references

Molecular Fluorescence: Principles and Applications
Bernard Valeur
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Research | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Analytic | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

Nuclear Chemistry | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

German | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 352729919X

Book Description

Today, fluorescence spectroscopy is an important tool of investigation in many areas. In analytical sciences, its advantage is extremely high sensitivity and selectivity - even single molecules can be detected - and it achieves a high spatial resolution and time resolution in combination with microscopic techniques or laser techniques, respectively. In material sciences, this is used to study structure and dynamics of surfaces. Particularly in the areas of biochemistry and molecular genetics, fluorescence spectroscopy has become a dominating technique. Together with the latest imaging techniques, fluorescence spectroscopy allows a real-time observation of the dynamics of intact biological systems with an unprecedented resolution.
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to and survey of fluorescence spectroscopy. It is written for newcomers and active researchers alike who are learning to apply fluorescence methods in the areas of chemistry, physical chemistry, polymers, materials, colloids, biochemistry, biology, medical and pharmaceutical research.

Customer Reviews:

great for beginners, but too few references.......2003-12-07

This is a great introductory book. Beautifully edited, very well written, with a lot of information to start digging each subject; I just missed a few more references in each chapter, and also more references to journals and not just other books, and then I would have been a 5 star.

Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences, Second Edition
Ignacio Tinoco , Kenneth Sauer , and James C. Wang
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0136659012

Principles of Physical Chemistry With Applications to the Biological Sciences

Average customer rating:

Principles of Physical Chemistry With Applications to the Biological Sciences
David Micheal Freifelder
Manufacturer: Jones & Bartlett Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences

Average customer rating:

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences

Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HY9AHI

Average customer rating:

Physical Chemistry Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences.
Ignacio Jr. and Sauer, Kenneth and Wang, James C. Tinoco
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall College Div
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ1AMO

Average customer rating:

Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences
Kenneth; Wang, James C. Sauer
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall College Div
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OIMV9G

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books