The relatively few professional economists who warned of the current crisis were people, it seems, who not only read the scholarly economics literature, but also brought into play more personal judgment: intuitive comparisons with past historical episodes; conclusions about speculative trading, price bubbles, and the stability of confidence; evaluations of the moral purposes of economic actors; and impressions that complacency had set in, lulling watchdogs to sleep.
而那一小部分对本次危机发出警告的专业经济学家则是这么一批人：他们不但饱读经济学文献，也不忘进行个人判断：凭直觉将当前状况与某些历史场景相比较；对投机买卖，价格泡沫和市场信心下结论；对经济参与者的道德目的进行衡量；发现市场已经过度自信，连监管者都松懈了。