Ronald Coase earned the Nobel Prize in economics but he is critical of the profession. He does not believe that it has moved very far from the ideas advanced by Adam Smith. One certainly cannot say that about the physical sciences. Textbooks rapidly become obsolete because new ideas rapidly replace old conceptions in response to empirical results from research. Coase believes that economists have become too settled in their ways. He argues for new ways of looking problems in the real world. Economist should not be satisfied with building models of an abstract economy that lends itself to model building. He recommends that economists focus more on the operation of the more important problems faced by entrepreneurs and those who manage real businesses.
This article published in the Harvard Business Review, produced many comments from HBR readers who seem to agree with him.
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