Whenever I read an article or book on technical economic theory, I often get the impression that I am in a fantasy world no less imaginative than Middle Earth or Narnia. By a long chain of assumptions, we are assured that this is an "approximation" of the real world.
Often this kind of imagineering (to borrow a phrase from Disneyites) is essential. One wonders though whether sometimes economists have gone overboard with it.
Check out this satirical piece on the toilet seat problem. Are some articles in Econometrica or Journal of Economic Theory no less absurd than this piece of toilet humor (bad pun, sorry!)?
BTW, am headed off for a workshop in Malaysia next week (on the live reef food fish trade) and (you guessed it) I am ducking my blogging duties. Expect light posting over the next couple of weeks. (I'll explain what "live reef food fish" is - that's good for at least one post already!)
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