One thing often encountered in academia, and it doesn’t matter which particular economic discipline we’re examining, is arrogance. Dr. Kartik Athreya of the Federal Reserve wrote a paper excoriating all those who blog on economic matters, but who lack Ph.D.’s in it, as “chronically stupid” and “a threat to public order”.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, who does not have a Ph.D. in economics, reminds us of the many things which Ph.D.-bearing individuals in economics did to bring us this current point. You may read his article here.
“Economics should never be treated as a science. Its claims are not falsifiable, which is why economists can disagree so violently among themselves: a rarer spectacle in science, where disputes are usually resolved one way or another by hard data.
It is a branch of anthropology and psychology, a moral discipline if you like. Anybody who loses sight of this is a public nuisance, starting with Dr Athreya.”
