Introduction to CAMREC

Back to | CAMREC | CPM | CAMREC is the CAMpaign for Real EConomics.

Its main purpose is to provide a forum for young economists either doing PhDs etc. or in junior positions in economics departments. The forum will enable them to discuss ideas which are unconventional or to discuss the nature of doubts about conventional economics without feeling that their careers are being placed at risk.

We (Bruce and Scott) decided to offer the CAMREC facility on our way home from a Computational Economics conference in Cambridge in July, 1998. Scott had been invited to join in a panel discussion on the policy value of economics. He pointed out several results in economics that have been proved to be wrong or implausible but necessary conditions for standard economics results (the capital theory stuff from the 60s, the Lipsey-Lancaster second best theorem from the 50s and Radner's 1968 proof that agents require unlimited computational capacity if general equilbrium is to exist with trading over time.)

Scott later wrote it up as part of a paper on climate modelling.

About 10 PhD students and junior academic staff in economics departments approached us privately after the talk to say that they agreed with Scott but felt unable to say so publicly because of the implications it would have for their careers.

Occasionally, Scott's home page gets comments such as the following:

Love it! That's where I am, too -- and it's not a good place to be when
you're still bucking for that Ph.D. ;-(

A final impetus was approaches by climate modellers to the CPM for help in developing integrated assessment models of climate change. Scientists who had to confront economics realised that it is bad science and what they need is good science to underpin rational, rigorous and effective analysis of the socio-economic effects of climate change and how to formulate policies to deal with it. We also note that the social simulation community provides a congenial home for those of us who are trying to do good science that supports the analysis of issues claimed by the economics profession.

So we conclude that there is a demand for good economic science, that conventional economics is bad science (if it is science at all) and that there are an unknown number of young economists who want to do good social science but who believe that, in economics, good science is bad for their careers.

The CAMREC web site and its associated email discussion list is for those young economists to be able to interact with good scientists of any age and discipline interested in economic issues.

CAMREC is run and maintained by Scott Moss and Bruce Edmonds