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Wednesday 29th April 2015

Background

It is not uncommonly thought that the purpose of formal, mathematical models in the social sciences (most especially, perhaps, economics) is to forecast the future. Because it is judged that economists are especially bad at such forecasts, there is growing criticism of mathematical modes of thinking in the social sciences in general, and economics in particular. In fact there is a selection bias in the criticism. One common form of forecast is not about the future but about what the data will reveal if one only looks for it. On that score contemporary micro-economics has done well. But there is more than one purpose to mathematical modelling in the social sciences.

Aims and Objectives

This course of 6 lectures explored the purposes of mathematical modelling in the social sciences and illustrated them with examples from the literature.

Each afternoon session had a slightly different focus:

Wednesday 29th April - Models as Parables

Sometimes models are so stylised that they can't possibly be used as the basis of empirical work (at least not directly). Nevertheless, they may be useful as a way of thinking coherently - of checking loose intuitions - about complex phenomena.

Wednesday 6th May - Models as Tools

Often, the same conceptual question comes up repeatedly in many different settings, sometimes in different guises. It can then prove useful to develop a modelling concept - a tool - for addressing the question.

Wednesday 13th May - Normative vs. Positive Models

Normative and positive models are usually taken to reflect the "should" and "could" aspects of choice, respectively. But sometimes the distinction isn't so clear.

The audience was multi disciplinary and included PhD students and Post-Docs, from the social sciences, but also the physical and biological sciences. Attendees were also from potential user communities, such as industry and the public sector, for example, financial institutions and relevant Government departments.

A mathematical background was assumed, but because the speakers intended to develop illustrations with the help of canonical examples, not much beyond the level of mathematics reached by students who had completed Part I in the Mathematics Tripos was required.

Biographies Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta

Partha Dasgupta is Frank Ramsey Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Professor Eric Maskin

Eric Maskin is Adams University Professor at Harvard. He received the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (with L. Hurwicz and R. Myerson) for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory.

Registration and Venue

The workshop took place at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge. Please see the Isaac Newton Institute A-Z for further information about the venue.

These events were supported by the University of Cambridge through the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account.