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> University economics is a religion, not a science That's a bit harsh. Is every field that employs simplified approximations of complex systems a religion as
by slededit 10y ago
> University economics is a religion, not a science
That's a bit harsh. Is every field that employs simplified approximations of complex systems a religion as well? With that definition even physics is out and that's one of the more concrete sciences.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y agoAt times it does appear to be a religion because of the cult of personality that proliferates (remember the Greenspan years?) and, most significantly, the blind faith and slavish devotion to free markets being a solution to everything. What I find most off-putting are those who advocate for wholesale changes in our society on little more than hypothesis and faith instead of running experiments starting at the smallest reasonable scale and then successively working your way up from that. It should at least pretend to try to applying basic scientific methodologies to its practice.Psychology has evolved to being a rigorous, evidence based social science. That psychology is not one of the foundations of studying economics is also problematic too.
- mcguire 10y agoIf it does not admit that it's simplified assumptions are simplified assumptions and seek to improve them, then yes. Which does not apply to physics. Economics has a weird tendency to invoke "outside shocks" to explain why their models fail, and seems to have difficulty identifying those shocks.