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Dilemmas of an Economic Theorist
Ariel Rubinstein
Abstract
What on earth are economic theorists like me trying to accomplish? This paper discusses four dilemmas encountered by an economic theorist:The dilemma of absurd conclusions: Should we abandon a model if it produces absurd conclusions or should we regard a model as a very limited set of assumptions that will inevitably fail in some contexts?The dilemma of responding to evidence: Should our models be judged according to experimental results?The dilemma of modelless regularities: Should models provide the hypothesis for testing or are they simply exercises in logic that have no use in identifying regularities?The dilemma of relevance: Do we have the right to offer advice or to make statements that are intended to influence the real world?
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