Assumption Quote by Richard Arnold Epstein

One of the peculiarities of economics is that it still rests on a behavioral assumption-rational utility maximization-that has long since been rejected by sociologists…

— Lester Thurow

Most people, even in simple risky situations, don't behave the way the theory of utility would have them behave.

— Howard Raiffa

“Determine the result you desire..law of averages does not know the objective untill the decision is made. Once a decision is made, the law…

— Earl Prevette

“Cognitive scientists recognize two types of rationality: instrumental and epistemic. The simplest definition of instrumental rationality-the one that emphasizes most that it is grounded…

— Keith E. Stanovich

“The core premise of economic theory is that people choose by optimizing.”

— Richard H. Thaler

Economics is not an attempt to generalize human desires or human behavior; but to generalize the phenomena of price.

— Michael Joseph Oakeshott

Modern economics is a set of formal models and equations purporting to fully determine human behaviour, at least in the economic realm. And there…

— Murray Rothbard

The good news is that, at least in economics, I've seen movement away from its overemphasis on mathematical models of purely rational behavior to…

— Robert J. Shiller

Another characteristic of mathematical thought is that it can have no success where it cannot generalize.

— Charles Sanders Peirce

“That’s right, but it’s not a mathematical proposition. It’s a sociological observation and there is always the possibility of exceptions to such observations." -…

— Isaac Asimov

“What we learn from behavior economics is that the moment a metric is created it generates an incentive for people to pursue it.”

— David Amerland

“For far too long, economists have neglected the distribution of wealth, partly because of Kuznets’s optimistic conclusions and partly because of the profession’s undue…

— Thomas Piketty