Incentives Matter

Economists Do It With Models.

Comments

[Ludwig VAN DEN HAUWE]

Where is your model? That "incentives matter" is a trivially true proposition that is certainly not directed at advanced students. I am certainly not making a sweeping claim in saying this...

[Peter Boettke]

Ludwig,

Follow the link, it is to an economist who very creatively studies incentives structures. We can all learn a lot from her work.

BTW, if you read Bill Easterly's Elusive Quest for Growth, you will see how the persistent and consistent application of this basic economic lessons can have rather significant implications for how we study "macroeconomics" and "development".

Nothing "trivial" about Easterly's work.

[econgirl]

As the economist who does it with models, I will confirm Ludwig's suspicion that my content is not directed at advanced students in economics. That said, there is a lot to be learned from the field without all of the fancy-schmancy grad school math, and my treatment is intended to get the point across without turning people off by pushing technical content that they are convinced that they don't like.

For the record, I was initially convinced that you were trying to be cute with your "incentives matter" headline- I've learned the hard way (via the wonders of Google) exactly what incentives are getting people to visit my site. I still wonder how many of them are disappointed when they don't see any porn. :)