Economics in 2090: The Views of an Experimentalist

The tone of this essay is optimistic. The rapid rate of growth of rigorous theory that has occurred in the past several decades has caused considerable concern in some quarters. The pessimist's view, which I do not share, is that this growth is symptomatic of an increasing irrelevance of economics. Pessimists see the technical discussion in the literature as representing scholarly self-indulgence that is tolerated if not promoted, by questionable journalistic editorial policies and by an academic tenure process that demands only volumes of publications. According to the pessimistic view, the next century will demand wholesale reform. My optimism results from a completely different interpretation of the circumstances as they apply.