942 Not Even One?

An old man with glasses stood in front of a projector curtain while slowly talking about things Lu Zhou didn’t understand.

However, even though he didn’t understand what was going on, the other scholars were quietly listening.

This reminded Lu Zhou of his own report. Whenever he did a report, the audience always listened attentively.

Looks like this speaker is an expert.

Lu Zhou didn’t stand around for long, he found a seat on the last row and sat down.

Actually, Wisl was sort of exaggerating. Even though there were many people in the lecture hall, he was still able to find a seat.

There were some people sitting on the floor at the front of the lecture hall, and these were often younger people who wore thick glasses. They came to the report with the intent of asking questions.

After Lu Zhou sat down, he looked around and took out his phone. He pulled up the thesis he and Xiao Tong collaborated on and used the rest of his attention listening to Professor Joseph’s lecture.

He had mostly forgotten about the theoretical part of the Lu Bewley model. Even though this model seemed to be important in the economics community, it was insignificant to him.

He read the paper again and refreshed his knowledge of the mathematical model he built.

For most people, reading a paper while listening to a lecture was a difficult thing.

However, Lu Zhou was good at multi-tasking and he was used to this.

Back when he was a Princeton professor, he would multi-task and focus on three separate things at once.

Professor Joseph slowly spoke on stage. When he saw a flash of light coming from the back row, he frowned.

The light from Lu Zhou’s phone wasn’t particularly bright, and it was barely noticeable.

However, everyone else in the lecture hall was looking at Joseph, except one person, who was looking at his phone. Even though Lu Zhou was sitting in the back row, Joseph easily noticed him.

Using one’s phone during a report wasn’t uncommon, but Joseph had always been against this behavior. He felt like his research result was being disrespected.

However, Joseph only frowned and ignored the disrespectful audience member.

If this were his lecture, he would definitely kick the person out of his lecture hall. However, this was an academic report. He wasn’t going to waste the time of other scholars over such a small matter…

Lu Zhou didn’t realize a big name economist was annoyed at him.

If only Joseph knew Lu Zhou wasn’t playing on his phone, he was reading the thesis!

However, Lu Zhou wouldn’t have cared what Joseph thought regardless.

First of all, he wasn’t in the economics field; secondly, there were hundreds of people that disliked him, so who cared about one more…

Lu Zhou finished reading the thesis—both the mathematical and the theoretical part.

Lu Zhou put away his phone. He was interested in what evaluation Professor Joseph was going to give his mathematical model. However, the old man’s words completely shocked him.

“We all know that a fairly novel mathematical model was recently added to the field of economics. Its creator is the well known Fields Medalist Professor Lu Zhou. His new model improved the Bewley model, reducing the amount of tedious calculations, and making the model calculations more accurate…

“I’m not denying that this mathematical model is beautiful.”

Professor Joseph looked around the lecture hall and said, “I’m a supporter of the New trade theory, and I often use mathematical tools to help buttress my economics theories. However, I have to mention that mathematics is only a tool for economics. After all, this is a macroeconomics conference, not an accounting and finance conference.”

The audience chuckled.

Most people liked the old man’s joke.

New economists were beginning to rely more and more on computers and mathematical tools. The Nobel Prize in Economics had almost become a mathematics prize.

For some old-fashioned economists, the integration of mathematics was simply stupid.

Professor Joseph paused for a second and spoke.

“Economics is about studying human economic activity, that is, creating, transforming, and trading value. This is not some mathematical game. We’re economists, not accountants.

“Even though this report is based on the Lu Bewley model, I am going to disappoint many people.” Professor Joseph looked at Krugman, who was sitting in the front row. He paused for a few seconds and said, “I will focus the report on the shortcomings of the Lu Bewley model.

“In my opinion, these shortcomings are fatal!”

Suddenly, whispers were heard in the lecture hall.

After hearing Joseph’s speech, Lu Zhou’s expression returned to normal.

He was a mathematician, a complete layman in the field of economics. If there really were fatal flaws, he would just have to accept it.

Not to mention that Professor Joseph was criticizing the economic value of the Lu Bewley model, not the mathematical value.

Therefore, Lu Zhou didn’t really care.

He can say whatever he wants.

Lu Zhou leaned back on his chair and overheard a conversation from two young people, likely PhD students.

“Didn’t Professor Krugman discuss the Lu Bewley model in his latest paper? It seems like he disagrees with Joseph?”

“Of course! Krugman is a supporter of mathematical economics, and he thinks that a beautiful economics model has to have a mathematical foundation… But Krugman doesn’t have good mathematical abilities himself.”

“Looks like this report is going to be interesting then.”

“Yeah, yeah, Professor Krugman is here as well, right?! Joseph is probably doing this report as a response to Krugman’s thesis.”

“Too bad, Professor Krugman isn’t as influential as Professor Joseph!”

Lu Zhou heard the conversation and raised his eyebrows.

Krugman is also in the lecture hall?

Joseph is doing this report for him?

I don’t really know how economics debates work, but I have a feeling this is going to get interesting…

Professor Krugman had a stiff expression on his face.

Professor Joseph’s words undoubtedly embarrassed him.

Xiao Tong couldn’t help but say, “Professor, does the Lu Bewley model… really have fatal flaws?”

“It’s hard to say.” Krugman shook his head and said, “I don’t think there are any flaws… But Joseph is quite the expert in mathematical economics models. Maybe he found problems I haven’t found yet.”

Professor Angus nodded and agreed with his old friend Krugman.

“We should just wait and see what happens. Maybe it’s not that bad.”

Professor Krugman had a solemn expression.

“Yeah, let’s be patient.”

Professor Joseph continued to speak, and he used a marker to write down the important parts on a whiteboard.

“As we all know, the Bewley model overcomes the flaws of the stochastic dynamic general equilibrium framework. It has gradually become the mainstream method of macroeconomic research. The Lu Bewley model has made improvements, such as the use of the ‘endogenous grid method’. This reduces the cumbersome operations…

“However, this also reduced the rigor of the Bewley model.”

[F (x, y, z) = ag3, 1 + bg3, 2 + cg3, 3 … where x, y, z≥0 …]

[…]

He continued to write down lines of calculations on the whiteboard.

Professor Joseph turned around and faced the lecture hall.

“If the KPR utility function is applied to equation 3, we can see there are obvious problems with the model.

“Just like I said, the Lu Bewley model has a major flaw, so a revision should be made.

“My report is over. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask away.”

The lecture hall was dead silent.

One could hear a pin drop on the ground.

Professor Joseph glanced at Krugman, who was staring at the whiteboard with a muddled look on his face.

I knew it.

Krugman couldn’t keep up with my explanation at all.

He didn’t have anything against Krugman; he was just dissatisfied with the flaws in the Lu Bewley model.

He thought Krugman would at least say something, but Krugman didn’t even ask a question.

Joseph looked disappointed.

Not even one person is going to argue with me?!

He was about to walk off stage when he saw someone in the back row raise their hand.

“I have a question.”

The voice traveled from the back of the lecture hall…