But many smart and creative people seem to believe themselves incapable of analytical thinking. I hated it. It was my worst subject. I don't remember anything about it except some lines crossed on a chart, and they didn't mean anything then and they still don't. Economists neglect many things of great value, it is true, but they recognize important forces and how those forces work in shaping the world.
Economists are the last sane optimists.
They are among the very few not worried about running out of energy, or timber, or food. They know when things become more scarce, people conserve and innovate and substitute. That's why free societies are materially well off. But at our level of affluence, commodities are not the things that matter most. Our son went to a two-room school in the Gallatin Valley.