I hate to hear the argument that economics is the question of optimizing resource allocation.
Many people may fall into a misunderstanding that economics is the best guide for decision-making, but this is a misunderstanding.
Economics is neither ethics nor operational research.
The "rational person" in economics is a hypothesis. Assume that everyone has an utility function to maximize the value, so as to explain and predict the behavior of people. However, Economics does not tell everyone to be rational. This is totally different. Therefore, economics is not an ethics that teaches people how to do it.
Likewise, economics is not operational research. Profit maximization is just a hypothesis. You can assume that the provider's behavior is explained after the profit is maximized, but it does not mean that the provider does not satisfy your profit maximization behavior. In fact, the actual situation is too complex. Manufacturers may be more rational than the profit maximization conditions derived from the economic model. Therefore, economic theories have limited guidance on individual economic behaviors.
In a word,
Optimization of operational research is the goal, and optimization of economics is the assumption., How can it be the same.
What are the relationships and differences between economics and operational research?
