• @Aceticon
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    1 year ago

    Most of that is just a generalization falacy.

    Behavioural Economics is exactly the only part of Economics that actually works like a real Science with actual experimental validation of theories (with properly conducted experiments).

    Using mathematical models doesn’t make something false (or true), it’s the lack of real world validation that does. Believing otherwise is believing Physics has “no connection with the real world” so things like artillery rounds won’t fall were the Newtonian Physics formulas predict they will.

    But yeah, most of the rest of Economics is self-serving bollocks, especially the closer you get to politically-significant monetary management (i.e. central banks).

    It’s not by chance that the only time a Behavioural Economist won the “Nobel Prize” of Economics (which is not a real prize set up by Alfred Nobel but in fact the “Swedish Central Bank Prize for Economics in Honor of Alfred Nobel” which is very purposefully misrepresented as a genuine Nobel Prize) was for “Nudge Theory” which is about how to push the masses to favour certain financial choices (i.e. manipulation) and is minor next to the bulk of that guy’s work, which proves without a doubt the irrationality of humans in economic matters (people don’t behave at all as the Homo Economicus that is the human model that serves as foundation for the whole Free Market Theory bollocks, but he was hardly going to get even a fake-Nobel from the Swedish Central Bank for disproving Free Market theories, now was he?!)

    IMHO, your take on this is too simplistic and as a consequence you’re throwing the baby with the bath water.

    I suggest you read “Freakonomics”.

    • @afraid_of_zombies
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      11 year ago

      Alright your argument has swayed me. At some point I will look into behavioral economics. Maybe it is the lone island in the sea of bullshit and lies regular economics is. I am a hard empiricalist materalist, engineer so I have to be. Any of us can tell you 2 + 2 equals 5 for unusually high values of 2.

      I have listened to the freakonomics podcast. I think they do a decent job on small stuff like why are there so many mattress stores but they are all empty or why are all you can eat places a thing if homo economis is the model. Anything beyond that stuff I don’t think much of. Their abortion crime link has been disproven.

      In the meantime I am still going to consider any economist talking about tax, bailouts, trade, debt to be shills with less integrity than a snuff film maker.