Saturday, July 28, 2012

Math Atheism

The number of business majors who are math agnostics and atheists never ceases to stun me:

When it comes to macroeconomic policy choices, math atheism is a dangerous thing.

For example, the whole idea that we are running short of “resources” falls apart if you write out the math of growth and compare it to the data about growth. The math says that growth will drop to zero within 2-3 generations if it depends on resources. But the data says we are now 10-15 generations into growth in developed countries. Avoiding the math makes it easy for some people to cling to a Malthusian worldview that fits their personal biases better than it fits the data.

Via applied mathemagics.

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