Physics Envy: Pervasive, But Not Incurable

Everywhere you look, it seems, people are talking about “physics envy”.  This derisive term mocks the attempt of economists and other social sciences practitioners to imbue their disciplines with the equations and mathematical rigor of physics – a rigor that many believe fails when applied to the messy environments of disciplines like sociology or economics.  It’s not a new term – economist Philip Mirowski contributed to the Finnish Economic Papers series way back in 1992 with a piece entitled “Do Economists Suffer from Physics Envy?”

kinetic energy, not supply & demand

Eighteen years later the answer from many observation posts along the byways of public discourse appears to be: yes, they most certainly do, and so do their fellow travelers, business and financial markets experts.  After all, we just barely survived the most devastating economic event of our times, deeper and more far-reaching than any downturn since the Great Depression, and all the high priests of the field can do is shake their heads and say “wow, I sure didn’t see that coming.”  Distrust of fancy math is rampant in all walks of business life.  That presents a real problem for enterprise decision-makers at a time when they need smart quantitative tools – yes, fancy math and all – more than ever.  Markets are more complex than at any time in human history.  Giant waves of transactional data inundate marketing managers with new information every day.  Managers need science to help them gain valuable insights into the markets for their products and services – but how do they know that the growing number and variety of scientific marketing tools out there aren’t infected with the nasty symptoms of physics envy? Read the rest of this entry »

Subscribe   |