by Teaching economics — a question of waste and harm Amos Tversky once told me about a meeting he had attended with the foremost psychological scholars in the U.S., including Leon Festinger. At one point they were all asked to identify what they saw as the most important current problem in psychology. Festinger’s answer was: “Excessive ambitions”. In this paper I argue that this is not just the case for psychology, but for the social sciences across the board … As I see it, excessive ambitions cause both waste and harm. A mind is indeed a terrible thing to waste, and the waste can occur by hypertrophy and atrophy as well as by not developing at all. Cohorts after cohort of students are learning – and many of them subsequently hired to apply or teach – useless theories. Their efforts and talents would have been vastly more useful to society had they been harnessed to more productive purposes. Conjecturally, a redirection of their effort might even benefit the concerned individuals themselves.
Topics:
Lars Pålsson Syll considers the following as important: Economics
This could be interesting, too:
Lars Pålsson Syll writes The total incompetence of people in charge of the US economy
Lars Pålsson Syll writes Ergodicity — a questionable assumption (wonkish)
Lars Pålsson Syll writes Vägval i finanspolitiken
Lars Pålsson Syll writes Economics — a dismal and harmful science
Teaching economics — a question of waste and harm
Amos Tversky once told me about a meeting he had attended with the
foremost psychological scholars in the U.S., including Leon Festinger. At one point they were all asked to identify what they saw as the most
important current problem in psychology. Festinger’s answer was:
“Excessive ambitions”. In this paper I argue that this is not just the case for psychology, but for the social sciences across the board …As I see it, excessive ambitions cause both waste and harm. A mind is indeed a terrible thing to waste, and the waste can occur by hypertrophy and atrophy as well as by not developing at all. Cohorts after cohort of students are learning – and many of them subsequently hired to apply or teach – useless theories. Their efforts and talents would have been vastly more useful to society had they been harnessed to more productive purposes. Conjecturally, a redirection of their effort might even benefit the concerned individuals themselves.