Sunlighting Knightian Uncertainty/ Commemorating McArthur (New Working Paper)
This is my last month at HBS and I thought I’d squeeze in one last working paper, Renewing Knightian Uncertainty
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Amar Bhidé
Author of Uncertainty and Enterprise: Venturing Beyond the Known
Celebrating Richard “Dick” Nelson
Gave me joy to write this nomination In nominating Richard Nelson, I feel both honored and nervous. He has secured
Read MoreCapitalism Won’t Thrive on Value Investing Alone (just published HBR.org oped)
First oped in more than a year (when I was maniacally trying to get my medical innovation course done… Trigger
Read MoreCourse Evaluations did not disappoint
The new course on medical innovations I developed and just taught at HBS started disastrously. Fortunately, miraculously, by the end
Read More‘Tis done!
Done with my LTMA course. Good or bad, is for my students to say in their evaluations but it was
Read MoreCase Teaching Highs
In less than nine months, I’ve put 15 case studies through the HBS system, which may be a record for
Read MoreShorter Simplified version
Keynes thought it would be ‘splendid’ if economists became more like dentists. Disciplinary economics
has instead become more like physics in focusing on concise, universal propositions verified
through decisive tests. This focus, I argue, limits the practical utility of the discipline because universal
propositions form only a part of new policy recipes. I further suggest that, as in engineering and
medicine, developing economic recipes requires eclectic combinations of suggestive tests and
judgement. Additionally, I offer a detailed example of how a simulation model can help evaluate
new policy combinations that affect the screening of loan applications.
May or may not help, but can’t hurt.
Long ago, when I had a persistent cold, my father had taught me the yogic practice of ‘jala neti.’ So
Read MoreBob Aliber remembers George Schultz
The venerable sage, Bob Aliber (and co-author of Manias, Panics, and Crashes), sent along this fine memory of the late,
Read MoreProductive Knowledge and the Social Sciences — Some Pragmatic Ruminations
The most that ‘scientific consensus’ can realistically expect is some kind of ‘abductive’ generalization: the “best” explanation for the widest possible phenomena. And I’m skeptical that without intellectual bullying such a consensus is possible…. The alternative ‘pragmatic’ enterprise (in the William James sense) looks for whats useful rather than what’s universally true. …social scientists have something to bring to the pragmatist’s table: more suggestive tools and heuristics for their selection and use. It would be a pity if this were lost in a dogmatic striving for the “best” model and approach
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