The contest between rational and behavioral finance is poorly understood as a contest over quot;testabilityquot; and quot;predictive success.quot; In fact, neither rational nor behavioral finance offer much in the way of testable predictions of improving precision. Researchers in the rational...

This paper identifies the major failings of mainstream economics and the rational choice theory it relies upon. These failures were identified by the four figures mentioned in the title: economics treats agents as rational fools; by the time the long run equilibrium arrives, we are all dead; the...