JumpCrisscross 8 hours ago

> economics profession very much suffers from inferiority complex known as "physics envy"

You’re mixing up quantitative finance and economics.

  • 331c8c71 8 hours ago

    Excuse me? Quant finance doesn't claim to be devising grand theories about how the world operates (is more akin to engineering). And when it does, any delineation from economics is moot.

    • JumpCrisscross 8 hours ago

      > Quant finance doesn't claim to be devising grand theories about how the world operates

      What do you base this on?

      • 331c8c71 7 hours ago

        What's quintessential quant finance? Black-Scholes and no-arbitrage pricing. Don't you agree it's much more of a tool than a theory of how the world works.

        • JumpCrisscross 7 hours ago

          > What's quintessential quant finance? Black-Scholes and no-arbitrage pricing

          This is a bad model to pick to exemplify physics envy given it’s based on thermodynamic dispersion.

          The term “physics envy” broadly applies to all social sciences lacking a mathematical basis. It’s a criticism of using math where it doesn’t belong. That hasn’t really fit (until very recently) with economics. It’s been a classic complaint about quantitative finance’s loftier visions of universality.