Of Brains and Balls: Trolling of Economists

Of Brains and Balls: … is the recent post title in "Noahpinion".

I picked it, because it is an insightful read about misunderstandings and the complexity of macroeconomics and trading views, advices and concrete deals.


NN Taleb is not a fan of economists - in the 12 Meanest Things NN Taleb has Said About Economists you can read

Those with brains no balls become mathematicians, those with balls no brains join the mafia, those with no balls no brains become economists

and mathematicians either?

I guess NN Taleb requests to put your money where your mouth is? And Noah Smith pointed out that this is not true with Taleb's advice:

every single human should short US Treasury Bonds

But there is a lot of timing, configurations of positions, dynamic hedging … involved. And the maths of scenario analysis (with balls or not) should help to get insight?

So, IMO, the question comes to: did NN Taleb inform about this requirements for better insight when giving the advice? And with this, I believe  Noah is right: why, instead of angrily insisting in an earlier advice, not telling people what was behind the curtain, … ?

You need balls to do that … ?

Edit: to me this seems quite a masculine discussion.

Picture from sehfelder