Why History...

Today I chanced upon sth fr. a speech tt Dr. Goh Keng Swee
gave in 1968. It is important to rmbr tt he had a PhD in economics.
He said:

"There are many economists, I regret to say, who believe that
economic development in poor countries is possible in spite of corruption.
In theory, they may be right. But they assume that human avarice
can be kept within tolerable limits and this is contrary to the experience
of history."

Lol. Sounds like sth I'd have written myself.
Economists only know what works in theory, and then scratch their
heads when they see that it doesn't work in practice.
That's why I study history, rather than economics.