Deirdre McCloskey wrote:
>The kids at Chicago literally do not know how to pronounce "Keynes" (no 
>exaggeration).  Lucas' practice appears to come out of a theory that 
>economics is "like physics" (people who say this commonly have no idea how 
>physics actually works, by the way, and are not eager to find out).


Deirdre is quite right about the "physics envy" of many 
economists.  Actually, Lucas, et al are doing pre-relativistic pre-quantum 
theory physics.  Modern physics appreciates that conditions of observation 
influence observed phenomena in a variety of ways.  I.e. Newtonian 
mechanics is only applicable within a narrow range of observational 
conditions.  Likewise, the message of quantum mechanics is that things are 
quite different on the scale of atoms than say bricks.  What economics 
really needs is a post-Newtonian economic outlook.


John Howard Brown