economics
"Well, let me say, it's been an interesting experience overall," Bernanke replied after a long pregnant pause. "Keynes once said that economics should aspire to be as useful as dentistry. And what he meant by that was that economics is not a subject, which should be studied in an ivory tower.
"Standard economics is like the school geometry that pretends the earthis flat. It assumes that growth cango on forever, just like the flat plane of school geometry "
"Economics is like a mullet: interesting and enriching in the front, and complex and bizarre in the back!"
"Someone, maybe Joan Robinson, said the best reason to study Econ was for self defense. We live in a society where economics is like the ruling religion, an analogy I keep making because it's true, and if you live in such a place you had better know the dogmas if only to know how to refute them or point out the weaknesses."
"Economics and religion are actually quite similar. They are belief systems that try to optimize outcomes. For the religious, that outcome is getting to heaven, and for economists, it is achieving robust economic growth-heaven on earth."
"Economics is like astronomy in having nothing to do with human affairs and therefore with the ethical universe in which humans live. No, wait, that can't be right: it has to do with human affairs-how else am I going to get paid for consulting or editorializing?-but the parts I deal with are Objective . . . like who gets hurt by the imposition of free trade. Hmm. I'm having trouble with this. What I'm sure is that 'ought' and 'is' are entirely different realms and the scientist ought to ignore. . . uhm. . . well. . . ."
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