And that... wouldn't drive someone towards economics? Where you can make $250k a year as a "quant" surrounded by people who think compound interest equations are intense? Again - not going to stereotype, not going to point fingers. However, if someone were, say, not competitive in physics due to their disdain for experimental reconciliation, there are other avenues open to that person in environments where their investigative rigor need not be particularly acute.Reconciling models with observation is where it's at, yo. Increasingly, the only way to be competitive in physics nowadays is having the ability to do theory/modeling with at least one toe in the realm of experimentalism.
I grew up at Los Alamos National Labs so I've known plenty an experimental physicist. We're all on the same page about this. It's hilarious, however, that you point at Black-Scholes, considering where Myron Scholes ended up. Arrogant economists indeed.
Some industry officials said that Federal Reserve Bank of New York involvement in the rescue, however benign, would encourage large financial institutions to assume more risk, in the belief that the Federal Reserve would intervene on their behalf in the event of trouble. Federal Reserve Bank of New York actions raised concerns among some market observers that it could create moral hazard since even though the Fed had not directly injected capital, its use of moral suasion to encourage creditor involvement emphasized its interest in supporting the financial system.