Grand Illusions

I talked to a successful PhD candidate. He said that to be a successful PhD candidate one must memorize efficiently. He also said there is no room for creativity.

I talked to a woman who had a degree in marketing and architecture. She said she could never understand economics, because it lacked practicality.

I explained to a colleague that a failed relationship was a sunk cost. She said that everything could not be broken down into economic terms.

The traditional economics profession will collapse. George Mason will become the premier economics program in this country. Those economists whom can attack practical problems and ingratiate themselves with wider audiences will become the stars and heads of economic departments. Those whom prefer "vain playing with mathematical symbols" will regulate themselves to math departments and anonymity.

As James Buchanan said, "Economics has a didactic role." Those economists whom can teach economic lessons will succeed. Those economists whom either do not know those economic lessons or cannot teach them will be purged from the profession.

I am right with the sunk cost analogy. If a relationship cannot be repaired, then there is no use letting it affect future decisions. There is no use crying over spilt milk. I know it is hard to do, and the Romantic in me will not let me forget the past either. But, economics does have a lesson when it comes to failed relationships. "Economics has a didactic role."