Barry Rithotlz — What's the Penalty for Pundits Who Get It Wrong?

Five years ago, Arthur Laffer -- creator of the Laffer curve and a member of President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board from 1981-89 -- wrote an op-ed article. It was a grab bag of his pet peeves: opposition to Federal Reserve policies in response to the financial crisis and concern about the “unfunded liabilities of federal programs,'' including Social Security and Medicare. And, of course, he decried deficits, which in large part are the result of his thesis that tax cuts often increase revenue. As it turns out, for the most part, they don’t....

Pretty much every single warning, every data point, every item Laffer complained about was wrong.

Why does this happen, and why are there no penalties for being so inaccurate?

This isn't about economics, it's about politics. Unfortunately, the dismal science has become the vehicle of choice for those who seek to further their own political agenda....
We would do well to heed the words of Cambridge economist Joan Robinson, who observed “The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.”

The deceptions need to end.

Some are blinded by ideology. Some seek to blind others by it.

Bloomberg View
What's the Penalty for Pundits Who Get It Wrong?
Barry Rithotlz
(h/t Brad DeLong)