Marcel Boumans, born in Delft, the Netherlands, in 1960. Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. Assistant Professor at the Department of General Economics at the University of Amsterdam.
Fellow (1 September 2001 – 30 June 2002)
The research year at NIAS was successful. I was able to finish a (first version) book manuscript, entitled “How Economists Model the World into Numbers”. I integrated published work and new material produced at NIAS into one framework: a methodology that sees models not as a kind of mini theories but as instruments of investigation and which provides an understanding of twentieth-century practice of scientific research in macroeconomics and econometrics. It became apparent that models of empirical economics function as measuring instruments. In the process of building these instruments three steps proved essential: the choice of the mathematical representation, the search for stable empirical relationships, and calibration as a way to achieve reliability. Moreover, I completed two papers entitled “Tinbergen’s Business Cycle Analysis”, which will be published by Eurostat (December 2002) and the other, “How to Design Galilean Fall Experiments in Economics”, which is now being refereed.