Behavior Quote by Richard Thaler

For far too long economists have sought to define themselves in terms of their supposedly scientific methods. In fact, those methods rely on an…

— Thomas Piketty

“The mathematical economists have commonly been mathematicians first and economists afterward, disposed to oversimplify the data and underestimate the divergence between their premises and…

— Frank H. Knight

“Economists are all too often preoccupied with petty mathematical problems of interest only to themselves. This obsession with mathematics is an easy way of…

— Thomas Piketty

Mathematical economics is old enough to be respectable, but not all economists respect it. It has powerful supporters and impressive testimonials, yet many capable…

— James R Newman

The temptation to use mathematics is irresistible for economists. It appears to convey the appropriate air of scientific authority and precision to economists' musings.

— Paul Ormerod

Too large a proportion of recent "mathematical" economics are mere concoctions, as imprecise as the initial assumptions they rest on, which allow the author…

— John Maynard Keynes

“To put it bluntly, the discipline of economics has yet to get over its childish passion for mathematics and for purely theoretical and often…

— Thomas Piketty

I started off thinking that maybe the social sciences ought to have the kinds of mathematics that the natural sciences had. That works a…

— Herbert A. Simon

Modern economics is sick. Economics has increasingly become an intellectual game played for its own sake and not for its practical consequences for understanding…

— Mark Blaug

The use of mathematics has brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it has also brought mortis.

— Robert Heilbroner

Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis.

— Anonymous

Economists got away from really questioning how the world works, how decisions actually got made. If something doesn't conform to neoclassical models ... people…

— W. Brian Arthur