Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Lars P. Syll — The economist’s oath

Systemically important quote. 

Economists have way more political clout than they deserve based on past performance. Of course, that could change, but only if the profession changes. This quotation targets the core of the problem, over-reliance on modeling without adequate explanation of the limitations involved. Failure to do so appears to be an indicator of pseudo-scientific arrogance manifesting as a peculiar form of academic hubris.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
The economist’s oath
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

3 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Not dissimilar to the Used Car Salesman's oath.

NeilW said...

This article suggests that applied policy economics should follow an engineering, not a scientific, methodology

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26754444

Peter Pan said...

Nazi Germany had all sorts of policies - applying them wasn't the problem.