&gt;That would make the techniques less interesting to many economists, who are usually more concerned about giving policy recommendations than in making forecasts.<p>Therein lies the real reason for the panoply broken economics models. They are more often used for the purpose of lobbying rather than for impartial prediction.<p>Much of the profession (particularly the elites) only exists as an intellectual pretext for maintaining and perpetuating existing power structures. It&#x27;s about as scientific as the departments of Marxist economics were in the former Soviet Union or the Vatican in 15th century Italy.