Economists

[Giant Communist Robot]

...have fallen in love with physics. When looking at vague notions like "invisible hands," the ideas seem to lack something. Something concrete. On the other hand, physicists take a clump of data from natural phenomena and posit some laws of the universe. Science. Sometimes the physicists have taken startling leaps to their conclusions.

Economists swooned over the romance of this. Just imagine......if one could do that with economics. Oooooooo. Swoon. Now we have a wretched excess of formulas and partial differential equations that give their full weight of authority from mathematics and science to their conclusions. The pde's are so impressive that to doubt them shows one's ignorance of math. Swoon!

[barfle]

I remember an old joke from my college Econ class (which was about 1977).

If you put all the economists end to end, they wouldn't reach a conclusion.

Economics is a study, to be certain. But to call it a science is to ignore the millions of variables over which the observer has no control.

[Shapley]

Economist are usually wrong in their predictions. But they will be able to tell you, after the fact, why anything that happens was predictable...

[jamiebk]

Economists are probably not as advanced in their "science" as the weather forecasters...in fact there are many similarities.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Economists are probably not as advanced in their "science" as the weather forecasters...in fact there are many similarities.

Weather forecasting is about natural phenomenon and economics has a big dose of human behavior.

[BigJon@Work]

Economists, like psychologists, are only scientific forensically. Choose any branch of a tree and anyone can guide you to the roots. Grab any root and tell me in which branch the sap will end. Soothsayers and fortunetellers have about the same chance as economists.

[jamiebk]

Weather forecasting is about natural phenomenon and economics has a big dose of human behavior.

I think human behavior is a natural phenomenon

[Giant Communist Robot]

Economists, like psychologists

cue to "jump the couch"