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Rating: 
Summary: A nice illustration of the interpretation power of economics
Review: The students who enter the field of economics, or any other social science disciplines that employ mathematical models in explaining the world around us, may start being suspicious about the explanation power of these models at some point. How could the messy and complex issues be reduced to ONE simple model? Sutton's book is a very nice piece of work that would help resolve tthis puzzle. Start with the STANDARD PARADIGM commonly used in modeling complex issues in social sciences, particularly in economics, Sutton pins down the limitations of these paradigm in a very easy understanding yet profound way. The next chapter starts some models that work, from a game theoretical perspective. Chapter 3, however, emphasizes the difficulties of constructing a complete model. Finally, the last chapter provides a vivid example of Sutton's argument regarding the pitfalls of modeling and its application in real life. This nice little book is by far the best I have read in terms of explaining why social sciences are so messy, even with the introduction of nice, elegant mathematical models. It is hard to find "black-and-write" answers in social science, indeed. However, bearing in mind the importance and limitation of using mathematical models would help social scientists face the and frustration in a constructive way.
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