producing data through experiments designed and controlled by the researcher. Even when economic forces do follow repetitive patterns, it may not be easy to spot empirical regularities, because contingencies – especially the exceptional ones – cannot be re-created at will, in the laboratory, for cognitive purposes. Our experience will always be limited, partial and episodic.
These aspects are not always taken into account in economics or finance. As Charles Kindleberger noticed: “For historians each event is unique. Economics, however, maintains that forces in society and nature behave in repetitive ways”.8  7  P. Davidson, “Is probability theory relevant for uncertainty? A Post Keynesian perspective”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5, 1, 1991.