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

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

By any reasonable criteria, the discipline of economics as a whole, in its present state, is sadly lacking.

The reader might reflect that an awful lot of supposing has to take place in order for the quantity theory of money to be true.

Books proliferate, and occasionally sell in very large numbers, which claim to have found the rule, or small set of rules, which will guarantee business success. But business is far too complicated, far too difficult an activity to distil into a few simple commands ... It is failure rather than success which is the distinguishing feature of corporate life.

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.