Julio asked on Doug Henwood's Facebook page about what value the concept of
Physics Envy might be.  I thought that the way that he shows how economists
tried to get physicists to endorse their work is very valuable.

 354: "In a letter to an English economist named Henry MacLeod, who courted
obscurity by comparing economics to physics without sufficient scientific
background or academic influence to establish a research school, the much
less obscure physicist James Clerk Maxwell confessed: "We are in the same
boat ....  [I]nstead of reducing economics to physics, I endeavour to
impress upon beginners in physics the principles of book keeping" (H. D.
MacLeod, An Address to the Board of Electors to the Professorship of
Political Economy in the University of Cambridge [London, 1884], p. 12).


-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA
95929

530 898 5321
fax 530 898 5901
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
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