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Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem (because somebody asked and I didn’t know)
“Arrow’s paradox demonstrates that no voting system based on ranked preferences can possibly meet a certain set of reasonable criteria when there are three or more options to choose from. These criteria are called unrestricted domain, non-imposition, non-dictatorship, monotonicity, and independence of irrelevant alternatives.” ~Wikipedia Quotes
On Experimental Economics:
“When the data are consistent with the predictions of a theory, it is sometimes said that the results are not interesting because they merely confirm what economists already knew (or teach?), which seems to suggest that “truly” authoritative theory cannot be doubted seriously. When the data are inconsistent with the predictions of theory it is not uncommon to assert that there must be “something” wrong with the experiments...However, if one wants to gain a greater understanding of economic phenomena, the most productive knowledge-building attitude is to be skeptical of both the theory and the evidence.” ~Vernon L. Smith, “Theory, Experiment and Economics” (1989)
On fairness
“...the phrase is constantly used in the market place; it is frequent in the mouths both of employers and the employed; and almost every phrase in common use has a real meaning, though it may be difficult to get at.” ~Alfred Marshall (1925), as quoted in Fehr, Kirchsteiger and Riedl (1993)
Random quotes
“We have 2 classes of forecasters: Those who don't know . . . and those who don't know they don't know.” ~ John Kenneth Galbraith
“...we must be suspicious of models that assume economic actors think like economists. Rational expectations is a useful first step in modeling expectations, but it embodies assumptions that are very strong. Our theories are different from those in use during the Great Depression. There is no way that people living then could have thought along the lines we now use to model the economy...They cannot be expected to act in accordance with existing models. We must investigate models where people have different ways of interpreting the evidence.” ~ Peter Temin, “Lessons from the Great Depression” (pp. 86-87)
[The following quote is by the leader of the Georgian Parliament, way before the whole South Ossetia incident] “Поймите меня правильно, я не призываю к прекращению дружеских отношений с Россией. Напротив, Вы должны иметь хорошие отношения с Россией, впрочем, как и мы. Но вы - Великая страна. Почему Вы не верите в свои собственные силы? Конечно, речь идет не обо всех. Я обращаюсь к той маленькой части, которая сомневается в том, что Украина может сама стать достойным членом европейской семьи” “И пускай есть еще те, кто не верит в Украину, полагаю - у вас великое будущее, и вы можете самостоятельно строить страну своими руками” ~ Нино Бурджанадзе (Председатель парламента Грузии) Some quotes from the book "Complications" by Atul Gawande On product displays at the annual American College of Surgeons convention "Booths were offering free golf balls, fountain pens, penlights, baseball caps, sticky pads, candy...You might think six-figure surgeons would be oblivious to this kind of petty bribery. But you would be wrong." I also just came back from the American Economics Association convention in Chicago. Here's what the book says on conventions in general (I can't judge its accuracy, I just thought it was amusing): "The anthropologist Lawrence Cohen describes conferences and conventions not so much as scholarly goings-on but as carnivals - 'colossal events where academic proceedings are overshadowed by professional politics, ritual enactments of disciplinary boundaries, sexual liminality, tourism and trade, personal and national rivalries, the care and feeding of professional kinship, and the sheer enormity of discourse.'" And the most disturbing quote on autopsies: "How often do autopsies turn up a major misdiagnosis in the cause of death? I would have guessed this happened rarely, in 1 or 2 percent of cases at most. According to three studies done in 1998 and 1999, however, the figure is about 40 percent."
Jokes There are hundreds of jokes about economists. Most of the jokes are pretty...well, lame. But once in a while, I find a funny one. *** Like this one, from a Nobel Lecture by Franco Modigliani *** A surgeon, an engineer and an economist once argued which profession is the oldest. “The surgeon spoke first and said, ‘Remember at the beginning when God took a rib out of Adam and made Eve? Who do you think did that? Obviously, a surgeon.’ The engineer, however, was undaunted by this and said, ‘Just a moment. You remember that God made the world before that. He separated the land from the sea. Who do you think did that except an engineer?’ ‘Just a moment,’ protested the economist, ‘Before God made the world, what was there? Chaos. Who do you think was responsible for that?’” (the part in quotes is copied directly from the book “Lives of the Laureates”, fourth edition) *** And another one someone told in math camp *** Q: How many economists does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: None. The market will do it. ****************************** Q:Why did God create economists? ******************************* Q: How many Iraquis does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Who cares—there’s no electricity! (taken from a book making fun of Bush)
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