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RE: Economics is a Very Dangerous Science
I agree with the "no credible" economist point. Plenty of them had PhDs, published in leading economic journals, and were university professors. And also agree with the math. the tools are extremely useful, especially the stats, just need to keep conclusions within scope and not over extrapolate.
Amen! Some of the most incredibly stupid people I have ever met have had Ph.D.'s...they view the world through the myopic lens of academia and have little or no real world experience. I was in my 40's when I went to college (was almost 50 when I got my MA) and was about the same age as a lot of profs. I had a little home handyman business going and had a guy with a Ph.D marvel because I knew how to change a doorknob! I told him, John, it's two fucking screws! There's only one way it can be done....He told me he would never have figured it out. I became very suspicious as to whether or not I was spending my education dollars wisely lol!
Stats can be useful as long as we keep in mind that things, particularly in finance, change rapidly.
btw, i also know how you must have felt going back to school in your 40s...in my mid-30s now, i'm the old man in the phd program...my peers tend to be about a decade younger, on average.
At first I was terrified...I had no formal education (except 3 mos of adult-ed) so I thought I was going to way over my head. I was saddened to see how woefully unprepared those kids were. On the other hand, I was about the same age as a lot of the profs so I mostly hung around with them.
Ha!!! Hilarious re: the doorknob story. I tend to think our society has over-invested in formal education (bc of top down policies), which largely neglects very important alt forms of education people learn on the job.
Especially when guys coming out of welding schools are going to work (right away) for $50 per hr.
Absolutely...contrast that to 4 years of partying in college for $100,000 and learning things that have fractional contribution to your life and future productivity.