Chemistry at the Service of Economic Modelling: Vladimir Bazarov’s Approach to Formalizing Business Cycles
Vladimir Bazarov, a Soviet economist working at the State Planning agency in the 1920s, proposed two original mathematical models of the recovery phase of a business cycle, built by analogy with chemical reactions. This article analyses the results obtained by Bazarov and outlines the use of analogi...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Association Œconomia
2023-12-01
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Series: | Œconomia |
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Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/16566 |
Summary: | Vladimir Bazarov, a Soviet economist working at the State Planning agency in the 1920s, proposed two original mathematical models of the recovery phase of a business cycle, built by analogy with chemical reactions. This article analyses the results obtained by Bazarov and outlines the use of analogies in Bazarov’s model-building process, revealing how they helped him to propose a theoretical base for socialist planning. The article also studies the reception of Bazarov’s models in the USSR, placing his methodology in the historical context. The article contributes to the literature on the history and methodology of economics analysing the economic modelling of business cycles and, more specifically, the use of analogies as a tool of scientific discovery. |
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ISSN: | 2113-5207 2269-8450 |