Math and Economics

Economics and economists use a lot of math. Sometimes perhaps even gratuitously. Daniel Davies has a lengthly disquisition of the issue over at Crooked Timber. Here’s a sample:

The use of mathematics in economics isn’t the sort of Theory we’re concerned with trying to stamp out; like the War on Drugs, the War on Theory isn’t meant to touch the recreational hobbies of nice people like us. Nobody would question the right of economists to use whatever mathematical toolkit they need in order to write economics, because unlike the Bad Writing crowd, they’re using mathematics precisely in order to ensure the rigour of their analysis, not to cover up a lack of such rigour.

Well, not quite. The position that mathematics in economics is a) the best way to do economics and b) the only rigorous way to do economics can be attacked on two separate fronts.

I may have something to add after I actually read the post.

AB