Why economic theory-with no track-record of predictive success-is still an indispensable tool for protecting civilized life. Economic theory has never gotten any better at prediction. Its explanations are always after the fact. The mathematical models economists have devoted themselves to for more than a century can't be improved to enhance their empirical relevance.
But from this research program that never paid off, a very useful tool has emerged-game theory. It's just what civilized society needs to protect itself from the rapaciousness that condemns all markets to fail. In Blunt Instrument, Alex Rosenberg helps explain to outsiders exactly what they need to make sense of the economic theory, and why despite its failures, it's still indispensable. Economic theory is something we all should understand because the economy affects us all, and it is economic theorists who shape that economy for good or ill.