Mathematics Crucial in Modern-day Economics - Don

Kwabenya (Greater Accra) 3rd May ?99

An university don has stressed that the application of Mathematics is very crucial in fashioning out development policies aimed at maximising the utilisation of resources.

Professor Tomas Kaberger of the Institute of Physical Resource Theory of Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, said Mathematical models help increase the understanding of the dynamics of the economy and the way resources are managed.

This, he said, is of crucial importance for long-term strategic thinking in resource management.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the on-going six-day African regional workshop on "Mathematics in Economics" which opened last Wednesday at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Kwabenya, he said: "There are risks that you can avoid if you want to be successful in long-term development,".

The workshop is the first of its kind being organised in the West African sub-region by the National Centre for Mathematical Sciences (NCMS) of GAEC, International Centre for Theoretical Physics(ICTP), Italy, the Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, both in Sweden.

Prof. Kaberger stated, using Mathematical models in economics make problems visible to policy makers.

Prof. Kaberger, a resource person, explained that the use of mathematical models in economic theory, as used widely in Sweden and Europe, can lead to a better appreciation of bad and good policies, especially as they affect the environment and natural resources.

Professor Karl-Erik Erikson, also of the same university and a resource person, said Mathematical modelling can be applied in various areas of human endeavour, including natural resource management, environmental issues and issues of justice, adding that though the mathematical models are not a reality, they help in deepening our understanding of issues.