3 ms·
> Law is an impressionistic business, much less scientific than macroeconomics or inflation management Not sure if this is an intended jab at economists or jus
by t_mann 4y ago
> Law is an impressionistic business, much less scientific than macroeconomics or inflation management
Not sure if this is an intended jab at economists or just an ironic misconception. Macroeconomics is arguably the academic discipline with the worst track record in terms of prediction, and inflation is the biggest mystery within there. I remember in 2014, then ECB president Mario Draghi was asked whether stimulus measures he had just announced wouldn't lead to inflation. His response (paraphrased from memory) - "Where is the inflation? We know it might come, but we don't see it. We see an immediate crisis, so we take are taking these measures to deal with that, once we see inflation we'll deal with that."
- civilized 4y agoIf it's not a jab at macro it's the most insane thing I've ever read. Macro has a couple successes but, whenever I have contact with it, it mostly seems to be a collection of competing, politically-flavored voodoo ideologies with no clear way to decide which if any is illuminating.
- sib 4y agoAs one of my advisors in college (very senior, tenured macroeconomic professor, who had been on a US President's board of economic advisors) said to me, "If you lined all the economists in the world up end-to-end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion!"
- adrianmonk 4y agoI don't see how saying "my professional (law) is worse than that other profession (macroeconomics)" is a jab. A jab would be the other way around: "the only thing worse than my profession is that other profession".
- t_mann 4y agoPraising a profession that is notorious for its lack of a specific trait for having exactly that trait, while there are be countless other examples that would come to mind more readily, can indeed be a subtle jab.