4 ms·
If I read this right, Chetty's new EC course tries not only to put the focus on empirical data and its analysis, but also to disentangle ethical value judgments
by HillaryBriss 7y ago
If I read this right, Chetty's new EC course tries not only to put the focus on empirical data and its analysis, but also to disentangle ethical value judgments from economics.
This is sorely needed. I've often thought that economists (on either side of the political divide) love to make pompous pronouncements about what's mathematically right and wrong and somehow translate that into what's ethically right and wrong, and then say that their opponents are stupid and evil.
- barry-cotter 7y agoDisentangling ethical value judgments from economics is difficult, to put it mildly. It’s also front and centre in any introductory economics course, where the first lecture will introduce the distinction between normative (what should be) and positive (what is). I’m not sure I’ve ever read an intro textbook that doesn’t introduce that distinction.
- kodz4 7y agoChetty's own inequality/mobility data gets interpreted differently by the left and the right. There is no free lunch here, when it comes to dealing with people's vested interests (biases). Policy/decision makers know anytime things get political the issue is never about the data. If someone somewhere has to give up something, try doing it just showing them your data and analysis. You can run the experiment on HN. Try getting something in the architecture to change based on data, and pitch it to the HN community. See what happens...