The future of economics: the appropriately educated in pursuit of the knowable
David Colander
Middlebury College - Department of Economics



Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 29, Issue 6, pp. 927-941, 2005

Abstract:     
This paper argues that, currently, significant change is taking place in economics because (1) technological changes in analytic and computing methods are opening up new avenues of study, and (2) the `low hanging fruit` from previous approaches and methods have already been picked. It offers a vision of the future of economics that sees economists focusing less on the study of infinitely bright agents operating in information rich environments and more on the study of reasonably bright individuals operating in information-poor environments. Agent-based models and computer analysis of data will increase in importance, and deductive analytics will decrease in importance.

Keywords: Agent-based model, Complexity, Vision, Muddling through