Comments on: Dani Rodrik on the Economics Profession

By: Rich Berger

Rich Berger — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 11:32:33 +0000

I don’t find Rodrik persuasive, especially when he refers to free trade and free markets as “sacred cows”. Both have been under attack by the left (incoming economists of the left) for quite a while – how much more do we hear about “market failure” than “government failure”? I find the Borges’ story about the maps pretty lame – maps are very useful in helping me find locations, whether in a car or hiking in a state park, without being unwieldy. I wonder how many of the multiplicity of models are as useful.

By: Andrew'

Andrew' — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 09:09:06 +0000

The question, becomes how and when do you abandon a research programme when you are only looking for your keys under the lamp light?

Sure, if contradictory evidence smacks you in the face. But what if research programmes are like competing alternatives and one isn’t being looked into.

By: Andrew'

Andrew' — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 01:02:58 +0000

Oops, degenerative not regressive.

By: Andrew'

Andrew' — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 01:01:56 +0000

That is one key feature of a “regressive research program.”

By: Thiago Ribeiro

Thiago Ribeiro — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 23:29:58 +0000

Not a believer myself, but I would say God may play dices, but at least they are not loaded ones. Men at the other hand…

By: Marko

Marko — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 18:59:40 +0000

Rodrik demonstrates that one skill has been perfected by economists of all ideological stripes – that of circling the wagons.

By: Andrew'

Andrew' — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:52:30 +0000

Are you missing the distinction popularly referred to as science vs scientism?

By: Andrew'

Andrew' — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:49:10 +0000

I forget where I read/heard it and if it is a popular quote but if I remember the context correctly a guy once said, and I paraphrase, “I was trying to decide between medicine and law and I chose law because I thought ‘anything made by man can’t be as complicated and bewildering as that made by god’ and boy was I wrong!”

By: Yancey Ward

Yancey Ward — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 17:21:52 +0000

I find myself thinking the same thing as the comment just above mine- human nature isn’t all that malleable.

By: Sherwood Belangia

Sherwood Belangia — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 15:21:00 +0000

My one quibble with the quote is in describing the social world as “infinitely malleable”. If you will excuse the inelegance of another adverb, the phrase should be *seemingly* infinitely malleable. How malleable in actuality do we take the social world to be? That it arose through a cascade of contingencies is clear enough, but past contingencies become present constraints. It is a recipe for tyranny to think otherwise, I think.