strength in numbers

[hitchhiker]

It's telling that the greatest economics revolution of my lifetime was "behavioral economics," which could also be called "checking to see whether real people act like we've assumed they acted."

If it seems weird that economists would spend generations operating on the incorrect assumption that people behave in a certain way without ever checking, consider that Aristotle assumed women had fewer teeth than men, – and never bothered to count.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aristotles-error/

Accountants check, and what they find is…gnarly. In "An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer," Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson offer a mindbending account (heh) of where money comes from (hint: not taxes), and where it goes ("poof").

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/18/ink-stained-wretches/#countless

Comments

[guppiecat]

Well sure. I mean, if someone is going to pick a career in numberland, they're naturally going to be uncomfortable interacting with other humans, much less doing a long term study with those irrational things.

Just like how Aristotle chose a life of hanging around getting drunk and "philosophizing" with other men so why would he ... look at a woman?

[amaebi]

Yes, that certainly describes me perfectly. How wise you are in the way of economics.

[hitchhiker]

did you read the whole article?

[guppiecat]

Yes, I read the whole article. My comment was supposed to be sarcastic.

Given that both you and amaebi did not read the comment how I intended, I clearly missed the mark on the humor side. My apologies for that.

(I have not yet listened to the podcast links, but they're on my list. Maybe by 2023.)

[hitchhiker]

ah :) i wondered because the article was mostly about accounting, not economics

[amaebi]

http://www.rweconomics.com/BPA.htm

[hitchhiker]

thanks, that was a good read!