A Comparison of Programming Languages in Economics

20 Pages Posted: 30 Jun 2014 Last revised: 13 Nov 2024

See all articles by S. Borağan Aruoba

S. Borağan Aruoba

University of Maryland - Department of Economics

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: June 2014

Abstract

We solve the stochastic neoclassical growth model, the workhorse of modern macroeconomics, using C++11, Fortran 2008, Java, Julia, Python, Matlab, Mathematica, and R. We implement the same algorithm, value function iteration with grid search, in each of the languages. We report the execution times of the codes in a Mac and in a Windows computer and briefly comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each language.

Suggested Citation

Aruoba, S. Boragan and Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús, A Comparison of Programming Languages in Economics (June 2014). NBER Working Paper No. w20263, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2460602

S. Boragan Aruoba (Contact Author)

University of Maryland - Department of Economics ( email )

College Park, MD 20742
United States
301-405-3508 (Phone)
301-405-3542 (Fax)

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

3718 Locust Walk
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Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
215-898-1504 (Phone)
215-573-2057 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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