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If economists did come to a broad consensus, many politicians would still ignore that consensus if it didn't happen to fit their worldview or the interests of t

If economists did come to a broad consensus, many politicians would still ignore that consensus if it didn't happen to fit their worldview or the interests of their major donors. See: climate science.

Fordrus 10y ago
My Gosh, that is an extremely salient and DEEPLY DEPRESSING point. I've been drawn to question what to do about that quite often, but I havent happened across an acceptable answer as yet.
- zoomzoom 10y ago
  My hope would be that the problem isn't "major donors" but rather uneducated and misrepresented citizens. The question about donors or deep states or any other conspiracy type scheme is both how they might affect the purpose of the education system and the integrity of the democratic machinery. These should be questioned, but fixing them might be more achievable than eliminating "major donors" which is certainly tied to income inequality in general, some level of which is most likely desirable.
  - cassowary 10y ago
    Major donors have better access to the media than me. I can't educate them if the major donors are spinning opinions. My HN post will reach a negligible proportion of the voters; their prime time ad will reach a huge number.
- flukus 10y ago
  Vote for better politicians.
  - zaphar 10y ago
    Step 1 is to get better politicians to run. Only then can you vote for them.
    - cassowary 10y ago
      If in the first election there's no-one worth voting for, stand at the next election.
FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
One could scarcely call the field of Economics a science though.
- thinkling 10y ago
  Since politicians don't observe the consensus in a more rigorous science (climate), there's even less reason to think they'll observe it in economics.
  - FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
    My point exactly. Although I think UBI is a highly imperfect solution to the threat automation poses towards the livelihoods of those replaced, there isn't anything better on the table. I fear that our government won't take this seriously and reject UBI simply on moral grounds even if all the research and evidence pointed towards it being the best policy option.
    - collyw 10y ago
      Politicians don't like evidence. Look what happened to David Nutt in the UK.
- mathieutd 10y ago
  Why? They formulate theories and test them against data to understand how the world works. Is that not the definition of science?
  - FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
    >
    - billions 10y ago
      Science is subject to interpretation on a spectrum of levels. How accurately can biology predict when a cell will split? Perhaps economic supply and demand is statistically predictable in the same fashion.
cheald 10y ago
As it turns out, Republicans and Democrats agree with each other much more than they agree with economists. https://cclark.gcsu.edu/Survey%20of%20Republicans,%20Democrats,%20and%20Economists.pdf https://cclark.gcsu.edu/Survey%20of%20Republicans,%20Democra... > Republicans and Democrats show identical distributions of responses for 18 propositions (41 percent) while economists and Democrats show identical distributions for 7 propositions (16 percent) and economists and Republicans share identical response distributions for 9 propositions (20 percent). These results suggest a gap between the economic views of the political parties and economists’ views.

Fordrus 10y ago

My Gosh, that is an extremely salient and DEEPLY DEPRESSING point. I've been drawn to question what to do about that quite often, but I havent happened across an acceptable answer as yet.

zoomzoom 10y ago
My hope would be that the problem isn't "major donors" but rather uneducated and misrepresented citizens. The question about donors or deep states or any other conspiracy type scheme is both how they might affect the purpose of the education system and the integrity of the democratic machinery. These should be questioned, but fixing them might be more achievable than eliminating "major donors" which is certainly tied to income inequality in general, some level of which is most likely desirable.
- cassowary 10y ago
  Major donors have better access to the media than me. I can't educate them if the major donors are spinning opinions. My HN post will reach a negligible proportion of the voters; their prime time ad will reach a huge number.
flukus 10y ago
Vote for better politicians.
- zaphar 10y ago
  Step 1 is to get better politicians to run. Only then can you vote for them.
  - cassowary 10y ago
    If in the first election there's no-one worth voting for, stand at the next election.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago

One could scarcely call the field of Economics a science though.

thinkling 10y ago
Since politicians don't observe the consensus in a more rigorous science (climate), there's even less reason to think they'll observe it in economics.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
  My point exactly. Although I think UBI is a highly imperfect solution to the threat automation poses towards the livelihoods of those replaced, there isn't anything better on the table. I fear that our government won't take this seriously and reject UBI simply on moral grounds even if all the research and evidence pointed towards it being the best policy option.
  - collyw 10y ago
    Politicians don't like evidence. Look what happened to David Nutt in the UK.
mathieutd 10y ago
Why? They formulate theories and test them against data to understand how the world works. Is that not the definition of science?
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
  >
  - billions 10y ago
    Science is subject to interpretation on a spectrum of levels. How accurately can biology predict when a cell will split? Perhaps economic supply and demand is statistically predictable in the same fashion.

cheald 10y ago

As it turns out, Republicans and Democrats agree with each other much more than they agree with economists. https://cclark.gcsu.edu/Survey%20of%20Republicans,%20Democrats,%20and%20Economists.pdf https://cclark.gcsu.edu/Survey%20of%20Republicans,%20Democra... > Republicans and Democrats show identical distributions of responses for 18 propositions (41 percent) while economists and Democrats show identical distributions for 7 propositions (16 percent) and economists and Republicans share identical response distributions for 9 propositions (20 percent). These results suggest a gap between the economic views of the political parties and economists’ views.