The reader might reflect that an awful lot of supposing has to take pl — Paul Ormerod

"The obstacles facing academic economists are formidable, for tenure and professional advancement still depend to a large extent on a willingness to comply with and to work within the tenets of orthodox theory."

"The model of competitive equilibrium which has been discussed so far is set in a timeless environment. People and companies all operate in a world in which there is no future and hence no uncertainty."

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

"At 2 per cent growth a year, an economy doubles in size in just thirty years."

"The importance to Smith of the overall set of values in which the economy operates is generally ignored by his followers in the late twentieth century. His economics, based upon individual self-interest, is remembered, but his moral framework is not."

"The behavior of the economy as a whole, at the aggregate, macro-level, is built up from the individual equations at the micro-level."