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Economic Theory

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Series

2007

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Counterfeiting Truth: Statistical Reporting On The Basis Of Trust, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy Jan 2007

Counterfeiting Truth: Statistical Reporting On The Basis Of Trust, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

There are two parts of our chapter. First, we review Adam Smith's argument that the evolution of monetary institutions is tied up in the problem of detecting deceitful metal offered in exchange. Smith points to no such comparable institution by which deceitful policy advocacy is detected and severely punished.5 Yet his recommendation for caution in the evaluation of policy advocacy points to the caution that routinely prevailed in monetary matters before public safeguards evolved to make the metallic content of the medium of exchange transparent and to preserve its quality. Second, we tum to a different sort of deceit, …


Counterfeiting Truth: Statistical Reporting On The Basis Of Trust, David M. Levy, Sandra J. Peart Jan 2007

Counterfeiting Truth: Statistical Reporting On The Basis Of Trust, David M. Levy, Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Semantics and game theory offer modern approaches to very old problems.1 David Lewis introduced game theoretic concepts into the study of language in his examination of conventions.2 In this chapter we study the language of a specific sort of conventions: statistical estimators. Such estimators have the important property of being both well-defined mathematical objects and devices that form the basis of factual claims asserted and, perhaps, believed by rational agents.3 The convention we analyze allows econometric reporting to proceed on the basis of trust.4 In contrast with Lewis, we shall demonstrate that such a convention is …