Armed with their theories and their statistical models, economists are increasingly marching off to occupy distant intellectual territory: marriage (Gary Becker), racial segregation (Thomas Schelling), obesity (David Cutler) and whether it matters whether your child goes to school with bright kids (Caroline Hoxby).

The practice – which has been around for a while – is often termed “economic imperialism”, perhaps because of the less-than-heartfelt welcome the natives usually extend to the economic explorers.