a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by mk
mk  ·  4897 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Does Economics Still Progress?
Interesting. This seemed very personal.

So much of what I hear about economics sounds like religion to me. By and large, people seem to decide what type of economics are right and what type are wrong, and they then read things that support these views, and construct historical narratives that do the same.

What is worse, names vastly over-simplify schools of ideas and lead to partisan battles where opponents aren't even discussing the same things.

Why is it supposed that one human being can not only comprehend, but communicate a viable and rational economic system? The more I see, the more I am of the opinion that economic understanding and application can only be transient. The practice of economics should be in large part about finding where theories fail, not only where they succeed. Theories should not be championed. They should be tested and scrutinized. They should be tools, not beliefs.