Re: Why Heterodox are subject to be losers.

[phillp2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Interestingly, a few years ago a senior Canadian civil servant (who
will remain nameless but who is not in Finance or the BofC but a
labour market related department) told me that they tended to avoid
hiring economists because they were generally useless because
they knew little about how the labour market really worked and
their policy advice was generally worthless if not counterproductive.
 He said they preferred to hire political scientists or sociologists
who had a better grip on reality.   Sad really.

Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba

Date sent:      	Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:15:27 -0500
Subject:        	Re: Why Heterodox are subject to be losers.
From:           	Tracy Lightcap <tlightcap@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:             	<mongiovg@xxxxxxxxxxx>, pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>
> On Thursday, March 13, 2003, at 09:04 AM, Mongiovi Gary wrote:
>
> >
> > To end, like Gonsalo, on an optimistic note: another listmember
> > wrote to me off-list to say that in his experience the non-academic
> > wing of the discipline--policymakers, government agencies, NGOs,
> > etc--is more open to progressive and non-orthodox thinking. This
> > circumstance might buttress the possibilities for a change along the
> > lines that Gonsalo describes at the end of his post.  Wishing won't
> > make it so, of course, but we ought to be poised to seize any
> > opportunities that present themselves, which is one reason
> > discussions like this are useful.
>
> One more "interdisciplinary" note here. The use of formal techniques
> in political science is in conscious imitation of economics in the
> hopes of that our discipline would have more influence on
> policymakers. One of the major points made by the perestroika movement
> in political science, however, is the lack of influence that research
> based on borrowings from mainstream economics has on the very people
> Gary mentions here. Indeed, the sterile modeling that characterizes
> this approach is downright repugnant to people whose careers depend on
> empirically supported findings. As mainstream supporters in economics
> force conformity to a paradigm increasingly out of touch with
> policymakers priorities, there is reason to believe that it might
> decrease the influence of economics on them. Then you might very well
> find a diversity of viewpoints becoming more desirable. Again, a case
> for keeping the moles digging.
>
> Tracy
>
> Tracy Lightcap
> Associate Professor
> Political Science
> LaGrange College
> LaGrange  GA  30240-2999
> 706.880.8226
> tlightcap@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>