ECONOMIC MODELS AS METAPHOR.

ECONOMIC MODELS AS METAPHOR. Deirdre McCloskey wrote a wonderful book, THE RHETORIC OF ECONOMICS. BEING THERE illustrates the way so much of what we read in economics is phrased in terms of metaphor. But even the equations used in economics can be viewed as complicated metaphors. In a 100 equation model or a 5 equation model, the equations do not stand alone in the way that, say, Newton’s laws of motion stand alone. (The most modeled equation is probably the “Consumption Function”, which seeks to explain aggregate consumption in an economy, but there are many versions of this equation, and no agreement on what the equation should be.) The references to “green shoots” in the current financial crisis call up memories of Peter Sellers as Chance, the Gardener.