From an interview in 1999: "But I don't make predictions. I long ago discovered that my wrong predictions are wonderfully remembered, and my right ones are quickly forgotten. So I rely on the history of capitalism."
Galbraith eschewed modeling even before he soured on forecasting, so at best the only thing he's ever done is "explained" things that happens. Even with the trappings of math, economists are essentially historians flipping coins.
I agree with a number of Galbraith's conclusions regarding the state of the field, but very little about why economics is a failure. Fundamentally, I have no reason to believe economics could have ever succeeded--corrupt machinations or not. Certainly, it will never succeed with the mathematical toolkit economists presently bring to bear.Incidentally James Galbraith's latest book "The Predator State" supports a lot of what Presley is saying, in fact he has given several speeches on the failure of economics. It is largely due to Criminal Political Influence.
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