I'm well aware. I work with people who devote a lot of time to studying and publishing about a particular residual, seemingly without realizing that's what they're doing.

labeling the unexplained part and calling it a theory is a time tested academic tradition, like dark matter in physics

SimpleStacker

It wasn't that the idea was utterly implausible but the technical theory was silly.

My recollection is that the thing they called a technology shock wasn't (it was just a residual) and the thing they called a recession wasn't (it was just a deviation from the long term growth trend).

econ

Do Technology Shocks Cause Boom-Bust Cycles?

Undisciplined

It wasn't that the idea was utterly implausible but the technical theory was silly. 

My recollection is that the thing they called a technology shock wasn't (it was just a residual) and the thing they called a recession wasn't (it was just a deviation from the long term growth trend).