How Economics Became a Mathematical Science

Business & Finance, Economics
Cover of the book How Economics Became a Mathematical Science by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith ISBN: 9780822383802
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: May 28, 2002
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
ISBN: 9780822383802
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: May 28, 2002
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists’ changing images of mathematics.
Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book’s author.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists’ changing images of mathematics.
Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book’s author.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book We Are All Equal by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book From Washington to Moscow by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Translating Empire by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Lessons of Romanticism by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book All in the Family by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Culture Wars in Brazil by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Fatal Advice by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Experimental Ethnography by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book In Defense of Honor by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Histories of Race and Racism by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book The Feminist Bookstore Movement by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book The Race of Sound by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Return by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Cover of the book Public Reactions to Nuclear Waste by E. Roy Weintraub, Barbara Herrnstein Smith
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy