ravinomics

Every discipline has its own terminology, which can be daunting for the outsider. This is especially so for mainstream economics that is now expressed through mathematics. Economics is by far the most quantitative of the social sciences, and the training involved is intensive. Mainstream economics is in some ways akin to classical music. A classical pianist cannot become a great interpreter of Beethoven without years of training in technique. Similarly, economists must become fluent in mathematics before they can be truly creative in theory and applied work (usually econometrics); it is the student economist's equivalent of the musician practicing the scales on the piano day in and day out. Like the best classical musicians, the best economists use their technique in novel ways, stretching the boundaries of the technique—without ever departing from its fundamentals.

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Microeconomics is what economists know about. But macroeconomics is what they want to know about. That's what makes it so interesting.

— Benjamin Friedman (quoted in Fisher, 1993)