>>Hard to say. Engineers seem to gravitate towards monetary quick fixes, be
>>they the gold standard or post-Keynesian credit schemes. They also think
>>the system could be run rationally, like a machine, as if you could just
>>design your way around greed, violence, and irrationality. Economists are
>>sort of like that, in their own way.
A lot of economists are exactly like that. I've lost track of how many micro-economics and econometrics lectures I sat through where the idea of 'engineering' the economy was a massive wet dream for those guys. Some 'higher' level finance and econ texts look interchangeable with physics books. The drive to turn human behavior into a science like engineering/mathematics/physics is what turned me right off classical economics.
There used to be a guy in Ottawa who ran for parliament every election under a whacked out social credit platform (ie printing money) called John Turmel, aka 'The Engineer'. He was that approach personified.
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