Decisions and Dynamics
Postwar Theoretical Problems and the MIT Style of Economics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4297044 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William Thomas (0000-0001-6969-3173, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | suppl_1 |
| Pages | 295-314 |
| Publication date | 2014-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-2716208 |
| OpenAlex | W2035246292 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
This article examines certain issues in postwar economic theory and compares them with related issues in the nascent fields of cybernetics, industrial dynamics, and operations research. Because all these fields had close connections to MIT, the comparison provides an opportunity to assess to what degree a peculiar MIT "style" of economics, developed particularly by Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow, could be attributed to the MIT context, and to what degree this style developed in dialogue with a larger conversation taking place in and around the American economic profession as a whole. It is concluded that there were significant affinities in theoretical interest running between MIT economics and other fields at MIT, which revolved around the emergence of macro-scale phenomena out of the dynamic interplay of local decision-making processes. However, the methodology through which Samuelson and Solow, in particular, addressed these issues was peculiar to economic discourse
Dynamics (music · Economics · Keynesian economics · Neoclassical economics · Positive economics · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Diverse Interdisciplinary Research Studies · History · Philosophy and History of Science · Probability and Statistical Research
The Cybernetics Group
The World in the Model
Existence of an Equilibrium for a Competitive Economy
Interactions between the Multiplier Analysis and the Principle of Acceleration
The Nature and Stability of Inventory Cycles
Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory
Capital Expansion, Rate of Growth, and Employment
Consumption Theory in Terms of Revealed Preference
A Note on the Pure Theory of Consumer's Behaviour
The Theory of Inventory Management
An Essay in Dynamic Theory
Operations Research vis-à-vis Management at Arthur D. Little and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1950s
A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth
A Conceptual History of the Emergence of Bounded Rationality
Modigliani's and Simon's Early Contributions to Uncertainty (1952-61)
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |