To be sure, the state of knowledge and practice at central banks is close to the best that modern society has to offer, whereas fiscal policy is set in a highly political process that is poorly informed by economic knowledge and largely motivated by officials’ desire to be re-elected. But the problem with the ancient alchemists and their search for the philosopher’s stone was not that they were stupid or selfish people.
可以肯定的是，央行的知识和实践水平都接近现代社会所能提供的最佳状态，然而财政政策发生在高度政治化的进程中，一方面缺乏经济知识，另一方面主要被官员寻求连任的渴望所驱动。但古代炼金术士及他们寻找点金石的问题并不在于他们是愚蠢或者自私的人。也不在于政治领导人拒绝听他们的。相反仅仅在于当时的知识水平远及不上化学这门现代科学。