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One issue with economy as a science is that it's a very soft science at best and just pseudoscience at worst. Which then kind of defeats the purpose of experts

by steve1977 7mo ago

One issue with economy as a science is that it's a very soft science at best and just pseudoscience at worst. Which then kind of defeats the purpose of experts in the sense of technocracy. As an analogy, you can make a PhD in theology, but that is not proof that God exists.

TheOtherHobbes 7mo ago
Economics is very deliberately a pseudo-science. Orthodox economics starts from neoliberal moral beliefs and tries to justify and excuse them. It's about controlling the narrative, not about modelling consequences. Example: the way the supply shocks of the oil crises in the 70s and 80s were converted into a "keep wages low and raise interest rates to prevent inflation" narrative, when the rational solution would have been to move the economy away from dependence on oil as soon as possible.
- andrekandre 7mo ago
  > economics starts from neoliberal moral beliefs its why in the old days they used to call it "political-economy"... removing the political part does it a big disservice because its now ignoring the biggest influence (politics) on the thing and instead treats it like a machine that just need tooling once in a while.
throw0101c 7mo ago
> One issue with economy as a science is that it's a very soft science at best and just pseudoscience at worst. Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once stated “Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings.” There are falsifiable ideas and programs in economics—tax cuts paying for themselves, expansionary austerity, tariffs, etc—that are tried regularly: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansionary_fiscal_contraction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansionary_fiscal_contractio... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_the_Trump_administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_the_Trump_administr... The fact that the results of these experiments are ignored is hardly the fault of the those making correct predictions with correct models.

TheOtherHobbes 7mo ago

Economics is very deliberately a pseudo-science. Orthodox economics starts from neoliberal moral beliefs and tries to justify and excuse them. It's about controlling the narrative, not about modelling consequences. Example: the way the supply shocks of the oil crises in the 70s and 80s were converted into a "keep wages low and raise interest rates to prevent inflation" narrative, when the rational solution would have been to move the economy away from dependence on oil as soon as possible.

andrekandre 7mo ago
> economics starts from neoliberal moral beliefs its why in the old days they used to call it "political-economy"... removing the political part does it a big disservice because its now ignoring the biggest influence (politics) on the thing and instead treats it like a machine that just need tooling once in a while.

throw0101c 7mo ago

> One issue with economy as a science is that it's a very soft science at best and just pseudoscience at worst. Theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once stated “Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings.” There are falsifiable ideas and programs in economics—tax cuts paying for themselves, expansionary austerity, tariffs, etc—that are tried regularly: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_experiment * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansionary_fiscal_contraction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansionary_fiscal_contractio... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_the_Trump_administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_the_Trump_administr... The fact that the results of these experiments are ignored is hardly the fault of the those making correct predictions with correct models.