Hector Pollitt
@HectorPollitt
Followers
2K
Following
4K
Media
77
Statuses
2K
Economist and macroeconomic modeller, working mainly on climate change. Advocate of economic pluralism. #CambridgeTradition #Complexity
Cambridge, England
Joined October 2017
Bill Gates… the point is we don’t know what will happen when the climate warms. Every 0.1C increases chance of disaster. But he probably thought nothing could go wrong with every Microsoft product.
0
0
1
Fun indeed. Initially I was a worried that LLMs would just reinforce neoclassical ideas based on sheer volume of publications - but have been pleasantly surprised by some of the answers. If it makes people think and read more that’s a good thing.
On CharGPT for fun. Which economic theory best reflects reality.
0
0
1
On CharGPT for fun. Which economic theory best reflects reality.
6
8
37
This hits on a critical point. Yes, there are papers that relax these assumptions, often very interesting. But it's not enough to treat non-adherence to assumptions that defy reality as a special case. Especially when there is no need to use them at all.
Economists: ‘math imposes coherence with the assumptions’ Assumptions: rational behaviour, maximising behaviour, scarcity, ceteris paribus, eqm, perfect information , perfect competition, transitivity of preferences, fixed technology Economists: ‘ but but we relax them’ Me:
2
2
5
Great point - and I would add that we won’t get far in understanding capitalism if we don’t cover innovation. But also Schumpeter was a great writer and his work is a pleasure to read.
One thing I *do* like about this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics is that it might encourage more students to read Joseph Schumpeter. Schumpeter is the foundational scholar in the study of innovation and entrepreneurship within the capitalist system. His dynamic view of
0
0
1
I found Joel Mokyr's Culture of Growth interesting and well worth reading. It benefited from looking beyond standard economic issues. The bits trying to reconcile with textbook economics were painful... clearly appreciated by others though...
0
0
0
I’m definitely in favour of bringing new maths techniques into economics - if it helps explain real world phenomena. If it is just a fancy new way to do optimisations then not interested.
0
0
2
Point well made. Maths has a useful role to support a broader analysis, but too often it displaces the rest. Important issues get missed. Just because we can do fancy maths doesn’t mean we always should.
I personally became sceptical of mathematical formalism in economics after doing *too much* maths. As an economics undergrad, all I studied was statistics, econometrics, linear algebra, and calculus — and I realised how frighteningly little I learned about the real economy.
0
0
1
This made me laugh. But it gets to the heart of the issue. Commoditising things makes them cheap. But not using them at all makes things cheaper still. And there’s a role for policy to decide what we want to be cheap.
2. I heard the upfront costs of filling a tank can be costly, more than the ~$7 I fill up my EV with today. Do you think if we all collectively start using more gas cars, the gas prices will go down?
0
0
2
Great quote. It’s funny how close this is to the definition of macroeconomics, but so far away from what is often done in practice.
"Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than static snapshots." –Peter Senge
0
0
6
Very interesting. The power of metaphor has always been strong in economics. It helps our thinking and drives ideas, but can easily mislead us too. I’m all in favour of trying new metaphors.
Money as a quantum phenomenon https://t.co/tX8MQqczEF If you wanted something to think about today, try this.
1
0
0
The Economist is going big on transformational scenarios at the moment. Three weeks ago it was AI, this week climate tipping points. These are exactly the sorts of questions economists should be looking at - but often shy away from. https://t.co/FfveOcR2YA
economist.com
When climate change poses a strategic threat, it needs a strategic response
0
0
0
People like to claim that banks lend the funds deposited with them. They don't. It is technically impossible for them to do so. In this post, I explain why that is the case and how banks really create the loans that they offer to their customers.
taxresearch.org.uk
Introduction I keep getting comments from people who claim that my suggestion that banks do not use funds deposited with them to make loans is wrong. They are adamant that this claim is wrong. They...
11
144
212
Recent post on LinkedIn about the importance of interdisciplinary research - and not just for climate change. It also introduces ICENS lab, which takes a broader perspective. Thoughts and comments welcome! https://t.co/qQTCIDfzaR
linkedin.com
This is a post to introduce ICENS lab, a new interdisciplinary initiative: https://www.linkedin.
0
0
0
Someone needs to publish 'A Heterodox Economist's Guide to the AI Transition'. Complex issues like this need different perspectives. Robert Skidelsky's book is a good start. This topic is too important to ignore. https://t.co/F6goAnA1Yc
otherpress.com
This sweeping history of humanity’s relationship with machines illuminates how we got here and what happens next, with AI, climate change, and beyond. Faith in technological fixes for our problems is...
1
0
0
What will the super wealthy do? I suspect save a lot - asset prices will rise but real activity will slump. AI systems will let us produce more, but who will buy it all? To me, this explains tech's interest in UBI - it will ultimately support demand for their products.
1
0
2
Last week's Economist thought experiment on rapid AI take-up is useful and I agreed with much of it, but it also showed the need for pluralist thinking in economics. Agreed: a lot of wealth will end up in the hands of a few people. Disagreed: what comes next...
1
0
3
I've finally got round to setting up on BlueSky too, which I will mostly use for more specialized content, plus some previews from the forthcoming book with @JFMercure . And I hope to be back to blogging soon...
0
0
2
Nice analysis of how to offset distributional impacts from fuel taxes in Sweden. Links the E3ME macro model to a micro analysis. @CambridgeEcon
https://t.co/ewLi8FA7Yp
tandfonline.com
Backlashes to climate policy have raised the interest in policy packages that can simultaneously reduce emissions effectively, handle distributional effects, and reverse contemporary trends towards...
0
0
1
