Many of us like to think of financial economics as a science, but complex events like the financial crisis suggest that this conceit may be more wishful thinking than reality.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The financial markets generally are unpredictable. So that one has to have different scenarios... The idea that you can actually predict what's going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market.
The reality is, risk is variable. Those in the financial world know it.
I understand that finance can be very complex.
Economic science concerns itself primarily with theoretical and empirical generalizations about the behavior of individuals, institutions, markets, and national economies. Most academic research falls in this category.
And finally, no matter how good the science gets, there are problems that inevitably depend on judgement, on art, on a feel for financial markets.
A financial crisis is a great time for professional investors and a horrible time for average ones.
Economics is a strange science. Our subject deals with some of the most important as well as mundane issues that impinge on the human condition.
Financial crises are like fireworks: they illuminate the sky even as they go pop.
People want to think of economics as a natural science, like physics, with the comforting reliability of simple-to-understand theories like F=MA. Unfortunately, it isn't. Economics is a social science, and the so-called theories are really social and moral constructs.
The economics profession advances by one confusing financial disaster at a time.