Mathematics has given economics rigor, but alas, also mortis.

Veblen once asked a religious student the value of her church in kegs of beer.

Mathematics has given economics rigor, but alas, also mortis.

We turn to Marx, therefore, not because he is infallible, but because he is inescapable.

Very few of the heroes of the Golden Age of American finance had much interest in the solid realities of what underlay their structure of stocks and bonds and credits. Later on, a Henry Ford might introduce an era of intensely production-minded captains of industry, but the Harrimans, Morgans, Fricks, and Rockefellers were far more interested in the exciting manipulation of huge masses of intangible wealth than in the humdrum business of turning out goods.

The use of mathematics has brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it has also brought mortis.

Smith, as we have said, was not the proponent of any one class. He was a slave to his system. His whole economic philosophy stemmed from his unquestioning faith in the ability of the market to guide the system to its point of highest return. The market — that wonderful social machine — would take care of society's needs if it was left alone. "Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production," he wrote.