The thing to do is increase the budget of the National Science Foundation.

Critics of 'economic sciences' sometimes refer to the development of a 'pseudoscience' of economics, arguing that it uses the trappings of science, like dense mathematics, but only for show.

The problem is that once we focus on economic policy, much that is not science comes into play. Politics becomes involved, and political posturing is amply rewarded by public attention.

As a child, I was fascinated by any branch of physical or biological science. Even today, I find great excitement in discovering the complexity and variability of the world we live in, getting a glimpse into the deeper reality that we mostly ignore in our everyday human activities.

The theme is absolutely important. We don't realize how much of our lives are absolutely random.

[Meanwhile, the financial froth of speculative bubbles--and their dangers--are another enduring legacy of the Greenspan era.] Irrational exuberance really is still with us, ... risk that in 2010 or even 2015, the stock market will be lower still in real, inflation-corrected terms, than it was in 2005.