Epistemology of finance in the context of "Monetary crisis"

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⭐ Core Definition: Epistemology of finance

Epistemology of finance is a broad field of study that aims at providing a conceptual framework(s) for the interpretation of mathematical models in finance as well as the study of their possible limitations, in order to determine the epistemological standards according to which financial theory should be assessed against any associated empirical reality. A key problem is to what extent the combination of self-reference and adaption (reflexivity) undermine the stability, uniqueness, and usefulness of predictive models in finance and economics.

Within applied financial disciplines (which subsume financial economics, quantitative, and statistical finance) a single common assumption is pervasive; namely, that capital markets, being social systems, adhere sufficiently to epistemic norms. It has been argued that the use of incorrect epistemological assumptions is pervasive in financial economics and economics. These assumed epistemic norms carry with them a priori the necessity of unique, well-defined causal chains that can be meaningfully extracted from data. Both heterodox and mainstream economics retain the view that causality remains relevant as a formalism and that models remain sufficiently stable and unique (including under self-reference) and for this reason typically characterize empirical finance as science.

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Epistemology of finance in the context of Financial crisis

A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. A broader reduction of economic activity affecting the whole economy is known as an economic crisis. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults. Financial crises directly result in a loss of paper wealth but do not necessarily result in significant changes in the real economy (for example, the crisis resulting from the famous tulip mania bubble in the 17th century).

Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented. There is little consensus and financial crises continue to occur from time to time. It is apparent however that a consistent feature of both economic (and other applied finance disciplines) is the obvious inability to predict and avert financial crises. This realization raises the question as to what is known and also capable of being known (i.e. the epistemology) within economics and applied finance. It has been argued that the assumptions of unique, well-defined causal chains being present in economic thinking, models and data, could, in part, explain why financial crises are often inherent and unavoidable.

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