If you have been following our blog, you’ll know that we have a few less-than-complimentary things to say about “economic science”. Our first post on this was Let’s Rescind The Nobel Prize For Economics, which tells you where we’re coming from.

Now we’ve come across Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a financial scholar and former securities trader, and his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The Black Swan refers to a rare event. Taleb argues that economists’ current financial risk models are completely inadequate for dealing with the world’s interconnected economy in case a black swan comes along.

In an op-ed piece for FT.com, Taleb notes that the “Nobel Prize for Economics” is actually mislabeled. It was started and is funded by the Swedish central bank, and is officially the “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”. But it’s not one of the awards Alfred Nobel originally created. Those Swedish bankers are a clever bunch.

Taleb also has a few choice things to say about the “science” of economics, like:

• Modern portfolio management “has the empirical and scientific validity of astrology”
• The environment in financial economics is “reminiscent of medieval medicine”
• “The (Nobel economics) prize is … an insult to science”

Gee, what do you suppose he really thinks? You can find out more at Nassim Nicholas Taleb’ home page, which is aptly named fooledbyrandomness.com.