IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbr/cbrwps/wp379.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Better to be rough and relevant than to be precise and irrelevant. Reddaway's Legacy to Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Ajit Singh

Abstract

W.B. Reddaway has been a highly influential figure in Cambridge economics during the second half of the 20th Century. His method and style of doing economics - called the Reddaway-type economics - were quite distinct. The present paper explains Reddaway's methodology by examining his most important research contributions. The title of this essay conveys his distance from mainstream economists. His essential substantive difference with the latter concerned inferential econometrics. He subscribed to Keynes' critique of Timburgen's methodology. In summary, Reddaway regarded economics as an empirical, evidence-based subject which, through economic policy, should help improve the world. In his view mathematics could sometimes help, but, more often than not, it obfuscated economic reality. Currently the academic economics profession is dominated by a priori theorising and deductive modelling. Greater attention to Reddaway's legacy to economics, to its research methods and to teaching, would very much help to rebalance the subject.

Suggested Citation

  • Ajit Singh, 2008. "Better to be rough and relevant than to be precise and irrelevant. Reddaway's Legacy to Economics," Working Papers wp379, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp379
    Note: PRO-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp379/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deirdre N. McCloskey & Stephen T. Ziliak, 1996. "The Standard Error of Regressions," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 97-114, March.
    2. B. Reddaway, 1995. "Recollections of a lucky economist," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 48(192), pages 3-16.
    3. Ajit Singh, 2005. "Globalisation And The Regulation Of Fdi: New Proposals From The European Community And Japan," Contributions to Political Economy, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 99-121, August.
    4. W.B. Reddaway, 1937. "The General Theory Of Employment, Interest And Money," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 12(1-2), pages 28-36, June.
    5. Padma Desai, 1963. "The Development Of The Indian Economy: An Exercise In Economic Planning," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 308-317.
    6. B. Reddaway, 1995. "Recollections of a lucky economist," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 48(192), pages 3-16.
    7. Begg,Iain & Henry,Brian, 1998. "Applied Economics and Public Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521624145.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ashwani Saith, 2018. "Ajit Singh (1940–2015), the Radical Cambridge Economist: Anti†imperialist Advocate of Third World Industrialization," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(2), pages 561-628, March.
    2. Chiodi, Guglielmo, 2012. "Keynes across the Atlantic and the Refined Pedagogy of Vittorio Sirotti - Keynes tra le due sponde dell’Atlantico e la raffinata pedagogia di Vittorio Sirotti," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 65(1), pages 39-53.
    3. Michael Ellman, 2021. "Tribute to Domenico Mario Nuti [Industrial innovation in the Soviet Union: methodological perspectives and conclusions]," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 45(6), pages 1361-1372.
    4. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, 2020. "Against the Stream: Ajit Singh and His Battles," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(4), pages 1160-1169, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elza Jurun & Snježana Pivac, 2011. "Comparative regional GDP analysis: case study of Croatia," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 19(3), pages 319-335, September.
    2. Rachel G. Childers, 2011. "Being One'S Own Boss: How Does Risk Fit In?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 56(1), pages 48-58, May.
    3. Ricardo Barradas & Ines Tomas, 2023. "Household indebtedness in the European Union countries: Going beyond the mainstream interpretation," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 76(304), pages 21-49.
    4. Emrah Kocak & Hayriye Hilal Baglitas, 2022. "The path to sustainable municipal solid waste management: Do human development, energy efficiency, and income inequality matter?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1947-1962, December.
    5. A. Harri & B. W. Brorsen, 2004. "Performance persistence and the source of returns for hedge funds," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 131-141.
    6. Mookerjee, Rajen & Beron, Krista, 2005. "Gender, religion and happiness," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 674-685, October.
    7. Ajit Singh, 2012. "Financial Globalization and Human Development," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 135-151, February.
    8. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Problem- and policy-analysis for human development," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18743, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    9. Felix Roth & Anna-Elisabeth Thum, 2022. "Intangible Capital and Labor Productivity Growth: Panel Evidence for the EU from 1998–2005," Contributions to Economics, in: Intangible Capital and Growth, chapter 0, pages 101-128, Springer.
    10. Brinig, Margaret F. & Nock, Steven L., 2003. ""I only want trust": norms, trust, and autonomy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 471-487, November.
    11. Adrian Tschoegl, 1996. "Country and Firm Sources of International Competitiveness: The Case of the Foreign Exchange Market," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 97-19, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. Garrett, Thomas A. & Nichols, Mark W., 2008. "Do casinos export bankruptcy?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1481-1494, August.
    13. Thomas M. Fullerton, Jr. & W. Charles Sowyer & Richard L. Sprinkle, 1997. "Functional form for United States-México trade equations," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 12(1), pages 23-35.
    14. Anupama Sen and Tooraj Jamasb, 2012. "Diversity in Unity: An Empirical Analysis of Electricity Deregulation in Indian States," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    15. Peter J. Veazie, 2015. "Understanding Statistical Testing," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440145, January.
    16. Malcolm Coate & Shawn Ulrick, 2009. "Do Court Decisions Drive the Federal Trade Commission’s Enforcement Policy on Merger Settlements?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(2), pages 99-114, March.
    17. Bernd Hayo, 1999. "Money-output Granger causality revisited: an empirical analysis of EU countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1489-1501.
    18. Steven Kachelmeier & Kristy Towry, 2005. "The Limitations of Experimental Design: A Case Study Involving Monetary Incentive Effects in Laboratory Markets," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 8(1), pages 21-33, April.
    19. Robert Allen, 2016. "The Hand-Loom Weaver and the Power Loom: A Schumpeterian Perspective," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _142, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    20. Dr Martin Weale & Dr. James Mitchell, 2005. "Forecasting manufacturing output growth using firm-level survey data," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 251, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Method and style of doing economics; Reddaway-type economics; inferential econometrics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics
    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ruth Newman (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.