cute...

[worldandtime]

"well you know what they say about economics. It’s just like physics, except in physics 3% of the theories apply to 97% of the cases, where as in economics 97% of the theories apply to 3% of the cases."

Comments

[savidan]

i think that quote was designed to make physics seem superior to economics, but why is fascination with the special case a bad thing?

[worldandtime]

I don't think "fascination with the special case" is a bad thing at all. I do think, though, that when your theories are so far from general that new cases tend to require new theories, you don't really have a science.... It doesn't bother me personally if economics is not much of a science, but as its practioners generally claim it is, I think the discrepancy is interesting

[savidan]

I agree. No question about it: economics isn't a science in the same sense that physics is. But I think it's at least up there with biology...