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

Ajit Singh

Working Papers from Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge

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.

Keywords: Method and style of doing economics; Reddaway-type economics; inferential econometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 A2 B5 C1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-pke
Note: PRO-2
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Better to be rough and relevant than to be precise and irrelevant: Reddaway's legacy to economics (2009)
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