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VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF CONNING a IN MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS
Author(s) -
Velupillai K. Vela
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of economic surveys
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.657
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1467-6419
pISSN - 0950-0804
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6419.2007.00511.x
Subject(s) - mathematical economics , axiom , subjectivism , theme (computing) , focus (optics) , point (geometry) , economics , rational expectations , game theory , set (abstract data type) , positive economics , mathematics , epistemology , econometrics , philosophy , computer science , physics , geometry , optics , programming language , operating system
The mathematization of economics is almost exclusively in terms of the mathematics of real analysis which, in turn, is founded on set theory (and the axiom of choice) and orthodox mathematical logic. In this paper I try to point out that this kind of mathematization is replete with economic infelicities. The attempt to extract these infelicities is in terms of three main examples and one general discussion: dynamics, policy and rational expectations and learning are the examples; a game theory without ‘subjectivism’, based on the axiom of determinateness, is discussed in general terms. The focus is on the role and reliance of standard fixed‐point theorems in orthodox mathematical economics.