I’ve voiced some frustration over the past few weeks with economists and their petty spats. I have also had the growing feeling that despite all of their blogs and obtuse discussions that they really don’t have a clue as to what’s truly transpiring with the world’s economy right now much less how to repair it. So it was refreshing to stumble across someone this morning who is calling out the profession.
A bit more on the public relations quandary the economics profession ought to be in, if it isn’t already…
When I see Delong more or less indiscriminately trashing everyone at Chicago, orKrugman trashing Barro, etc., what doesn’t arise in my mind is a sense that some of these guys really know what they’re talking about while some of them are idiots. What arises in my mind is the strong suspicion that economic theory, as it is practiced and taught at the world’s leading institutions, is so far from consensus on certain fundamental questions that it is basically useless for adjudicating many profoundly important debates about economic policy. One implication of this is that it is wrong to extend to economists who advise policymakers, or become policymakes themselves, the respect we rightly extend to the practitioners of mature sciences. There is a reason extremely smart economists are out there playing reputation games instead of trying to settle the matter by doing better science. The reason is that, on the questions that are provoking intramural trashtalk, there is no science.
Sadly, there is no one better to listen to.
His name is Will Wilkinson and here is a link to his blog. It’s worth a look.
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