Why are Economists so Different? Nature, Nurture and Gender Effects in a Simple Trust Game

Nature vs. Nurture in Complex and Not-So-Complex Systems

Understanding the dynamical behavior of many-particle systems both in and out of equilibrium is a central issue in both statistical mechanics and complex systems theory. One question involves “nature vs. nurture”: given a system with a random initial state evolving through a well-defined stochastic dynamics, how much of the information contained in the state at future times depends on the initi...

The Math Gender Gap: Nurture Trumps Nature

(Updated) Rural India might not seem a likely place to study the roots of gender differences in math performance. But a new study of two tribes living in the northeast of the country offers intriguing evidence that biology alone does not determine women’s math aptitude (or lack thereof, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers once infamously suggested) and that culture has a lot to do with...

A Critical Analysis of the Origin and Nature of Classical Mathematical Economics: Why Classical Economists Did Not Use Mathematics?

The role of mathematics in economic analysis is not yet a settled question. Smith, Ricardo, Mill and other eminent classical economists did not use mathematics in their economic theorizations. We have defined classical mathematical economics as the whole body of literature in mathematical treatment of economics originating mainly from the contributions of Cournot,  Jevons and Walras. There are ...

Nature versus nurture: The simple contrast

We respond to the commentary of Franklin, Wright, and Davies (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 239-245 [2009]) by returning to the simple contrast between nature and nurture. We find no evidence from the toddler data that makes us revise our ideas that color categories are learned and never innate. 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. In their commentary, Franklin, Wright, and ...

Why is Meaningful Collaboration Between Ecologists and Economists So Difficult?