zlacker

Another thing to realise, along these lines, is that economic theories try to explain the world's economy, not dictate it.

I would say that some mathematicians went into economics to win Nobel prizes (which they did win) and I guess they would probably be quick to point this out at well.

>>mikory+(OP)
Economics is a branch of moral philosophy and very consciously uses persuasive rhetoric to dictate policy. One of the tools used is hand-waving hidden inside differential equations to produce models that would be useless in any other discipline.

I don't think I've ever seen a mainstream economic prediction that was actually correct.

It's not hard to understand why. Reducing all the sectors of a complex economy to crayon-drawn measures like "inflation" and "unemployment" - which aren't even measured with any consistency - is like trying to predict the weather in the Bay Area using a single weather station for the entire continental US, which is conveniently located on the wall of a cow shed in Kansas.

>>TheOth+74
There are two branches of economics. One of them is a science, the other is (politically, economically, and culturally) successful.