Description
Book SynopsisPutting Econometrics in its Place is an original and fascinating book, in which Peter Swann argues that econometrics has dominated applied economics for far too long and displaced other essential techniques. While Peter Swann is critical of the monopoly that econometrics currently holds in applied economics, the more important and positive contribution of the book is to propose a new direction and a new attitude to applied economics.
The advance of econometrics from its early days has been a massive achievement, but it has also been problematic; practical results from the use of econometrics are often disappointing. The author argues that to get applied economics back on course economists must use a much wider variety of research techniques, and must once again learn to respect vernacular knowledge of the economy. This vernacular includes the knowledge gathered by ordinary people from their everyday interactions with markets. While vernacular knowledge is often unsystematic and informal, it offers insights that can never be found from formal analysis alone.
As a serious, original and sometimes contentious book, its readership will be varied and international. Scholars throughout the many fields of economics - both skilled and unskilled in econometrics - are likely to be intrigued by the serious alternative approaches outlined within the book. It will also appeal to communities of economists outside economics departments in government, industry and business as well as business and management schools. Research centres for applied economics, policy research and innovation research, will also find it of interest due to its focus on getting reliable results rather than methodological orthodoxy for its own sake.
Trade Review'I consider the book as well suited to provide a broader perspective on methods used in applied economic research. For the applied researcher the book will provide a nice overview on existing methods and some arguments as to which method might be particularly suitable for specific purposes.'Table of ContentsContents: Preface PART I: WHAT IS APPLIED ECONOMICS? 1. Introduction 2. Economics Will Only be Applied if it is Applied 3. Econometrics as Alchemy? PART II: THE FORMAL IN APPLIED ECONOMICS 4. The Surveyor’s Dream 5. What Do the Critics Say is Wrong? 6. The Problem of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio PART III: THE VERNACULAR IN APPLIED ECONOMICS 7. Vernacular Economics 8. The Vernacular as Local Knowledge 9. Economic Research as Composition PART IV: TEN APPROACHES TO APPLIED ECONOMICS 10. Plurality: Why and What? 11. Applied Econometrics 12. Experimental Economics 13. Surveys and Questionnaires 14. Simulation 15. Engineering Economics 16. Economic History and History of Economic Thought 17. Case Studies 18. Interviews 19. Common Sense and Intuition 20. Metaphor 21. Innovative Economics: An Essential Miscellany PART V: THE FUTURE IN APPLIED ECONOMICS 22. Danger in the Present Trajectory 23. Changing Attitudes 24. How Do We Make the Future Happen? 25. Conclusion References Index
