{"id":94285,"date":"2026-07-25T08:52:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=94285"},"modified":"2026-07-25T08:52:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:52:49","slug":"economists-do-not-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/07\/25\/economists-do-not-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Economists do not think"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guardian has an article this morning<\/a>, hidden deep within its website, about an economic study on thinking.<\/p>\n

The amusing thing about this study is that it noted this:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of what it means to be human is about what\u2019s going on in our head,\u201d said Dr Joshua Tasoff, a senior author on the study. \u201cThe fact that we haven\u2019t really looked at that as economists is really quite extraordinary.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a couple of sentences, an explanation is offered as to why economics gets so much wrong. It has never bothered to look at real people and what they do or think. In a social science, that is quite an admission, and quite an omission.<\/p>\n

And what did the study then do? It was mundane. It simply asked people to record what they were thinking about. Not why, or with what aim, just what. From that survey, it concluded there are four types of thinkers, reaching conclusions that I recall the likes of Cosmopoliatm discussing when I was quite young with girlfriends who read that august journal.<\/p>\n

The reality is that economics has not thought about this, but philosophy has been doing so for thousands of years. However, because economists never think, let alone think outside their own silo, most have not noticed.<\/p>\n

The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek word philosophia, meaning \"love of wisdom,\" formed by combining philein (to love) and sophia (wisdom). It is, then, all about thinking, and almost all philosophers would agree there are three branches to that subject. They are:<\/p>\n