&gt; As a physicist, the models that I encountered in economic theory always left me quite disappointed. The main reason for this was that -like the article says- most of the models used in Economics are based on abstract reasoning about &quot;ideal&quot; markets and actors<p>I recall my family&#x27;s PhD. economist relating an anecdote about an colleague explaining that he&#x27;s making the usual set of assumptions like, say, &quot;people live forever&quot;, before doing some math for students. :)<p>Assume a spherical cow: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spherical_cow" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Spherical_cow</a>