When I say "sits on top of" I mean in terms of the intellectual foundation. The reason why engineers can confidently say a bridge is safe is in large part due t

When I say "sits on top of" I mean in terms of the intellectual foundation. The reason why engineers can confidently say a bridge is safe is in large part due to the massive amount of pre-existing knowledge of mathematics, metallurgy, physics, geology, etc that they apply when designing such things. They are are building real-world things on top of existing human knowledge other humans figured out decades or centuries ago. Economics just isn't as well grounded, so Banking is always going to be less certain - and perhaps, for that reason, should be far more conservative.