The point about them being priests is that economists are subjected to incentives to reach specific incorrect conclusions which physicists are not. One example

The point about them being priests is that economists are subjected to incentives to reach specific incorrect conclusions which physicists are not. One example is the notion that raising the minimum wage does not cause unemployment - there is a massive amount of pressure put on economists to reach the opposite conclusion because raising it hits profit margins in a big way. Krueger talked about the way economists reacted to his paper - many acted as if they had been betrayed. Similar stuff happens in physics over pet theories but there is no overarching imperative driven by access to prestigious jobs, money, publications, etc.