[PEN-L:29537] economists

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: economists

[was: RE: [PEN-L:29531] Re: RE: Liu on Stiglitz]

Gene writes:>I also disaggre w/Jim's assesment of economists.  I see few "seeking truth" and way over 99% Pleasing the Boss. <

I hope I didn't give the impression that it was a significant number of economists who had a worthwhile understanding of the world. I do think that a lot "seek the truth" but find it in mysticism, e.g., the holy cult of the Invisible Hand or the worship of mathematics for its own sake. This may "please the boss" objectively, but it's not the same as being a technocrat. Indeed, I am told that business types love the "Chicago school" vision of economics because of its rah-rah pro-Market stuff, but that they find its details just as irrelevant to their concerns as the most abstract Gerard Debreu-type stuff.

JD