tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post9130968867726610223..comments2024-03-28T04:29:22.717+00:00Comments on mainly macro: Being honest about ideological influence in economicsMainly Macrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09984575852247982901noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-61498720992106766472016-11-02T23:41:05.352+00:002016-11-02T23:41:05.352+00:00Oh don't worry about silly little things like ...Oh don't worry about silly little things like that! (sarcasm)Randomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04445772572707818311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-16068022073624086412016-11-02T11:09:32.279+00:002016-11-02T11:09:32.279+00:00Anonymouse29 October 2016 at 13:44
How do we know...Anonymouse29 October 2016 at 13:44<br /><br />How do we know that doesn't apply to the others, too?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-87759205469627668172016-11-01T09:26:13.368+00:002016-11-01T09:26:13.368+00:00Karl Marx would surely have disagreed. Karl Marx would surely have disagreed. Denyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00422220615940826980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-60512690189214163292016-11-01T09:17:40.267+00:002016-11-01T09:17:40.267+00:00I fear it has been examined but not taught. A phil...I fear it has been examined but not taught. A philosophy of economics should be the first things students learn, as it should for all subjects.Paul Ewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00057355765883155749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-9943699984915340732016-11-01T09:07:46.370+00:002016-11-01T09:07:46.370+00:00Card's friends presumably fell into this camp:...Card's friends presumably fell into this camp:<br /><br />"When the truth is replaced by silence," said the Soviet dissident Yevtushenko, "the silence is a lie."<br /><br />Very important and admirable piece, Simon. Ideology is inescapable, but it need not prevent good work. I fear, however, that all too often, it does. <br /><br />On a side note, The University of Chicago must have been a very odd place indeed: how else to explain a site that employed Saul Bellow, Erving Goffman & Friedrich von Hayek as well as Card's erstwhile friends? Right wing economics, left wing sociology. Tolerant, I guess. Pluralistic too.Paul Ewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00057355765883155749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-75741514965866391182016-10-31T17:46:23.033+00:002016-10-31T17:46:23.033+00:00How does RBC explain the rise in unemployment over...How does RBC explain the rise in unemployment over the great recession? If you are choosing leisure then you wouldn't be in the labor force. Unemployed people by definition must be actively looking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-91741167798620594582016-10-31T16:00:30.819+00:002016-10-31T16:00:30.819+00:00Thank you. We have your answer.Thank you. We have your answer.AllanWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05056883330644304960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-33674238944310048182016-10-31T09:31:47.362+00:002016-10-31T09:31:47.362+00:00And if I reply as I do to the Q below, that just s...And if I reply as I do to the Q below, that just shows I'm denying my bias? I think they did something similar to those accused of witchcraft. Evidence is crucial!Mainly Macrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09984575852247982901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-22527276825511160692016-10-31T01:19:11.204+00:002016-10-31T01:19:11.204+00:00'The scientific method' even in the hard s...'The scientific method' even in the hard sciences involves making lots of choices about what to research and which features to isolate for consideration. Rarely in the hard sciences, it is true, do we find the kind of obvious ideological bias that is often found in the social sciences, including economics, but that, surely, is only because much less politically is at stake. Because economics is all about who gets what and how much we should expect it always to be a battleground as much as it is a theatre of disinterested enquiry.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07115423820938009661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-21487693328429703832016-10-30T20:23:29.754+00:002016-10-30T20:23:29.754+00:00Sadly, the field has been examined as you would ha...Sadly, the field has been examined as you would have it; the critique and alternative is around yet today, among the Veblen/Dewey/Ayres Institutionalists. See the Journal of Economic Issues for their work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-87779429000660677602016-10-30T09:29:50.571+00:002016-10-30T09:29:50.571+00:00The question was whether YOU admit to being aware ...The question was whether YOU admit to being aware of ideological biases in your own work not whether someone else is capable of proving them.AllanWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05056883330644304960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-78602668516344976582016-10-30T06:19:50.389+00:002016-10-30T06:19:50.389+00:00Do these count?
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mchinn/...Do these count? <br /><br />http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~mchinn/Statement_Economists_Concerned.pdf<br /><br />As Brad DeLong noted, the mailing address at the end is the Trump Tower in New York. <br /><br />Ok, perhaps it's a bit unfair as they are apparently reluctant to openly support Trump's policies, but they are certainly willing to act as his attack surrogates. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-56996479395313303462016-10-29T20:44:52.163+00:002016-10-29T20:44:52.163+00:00I suppose you might claim that your politics and e...I suppose you might claim that your politics and economics tend to be aligned because the causality runs from the latter to the former. As it should, and perhaps does.Anonymousenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-50362664628118605432016-10-29T19:12:49.673+00:002016-10-29T19:12:49.673+00:00Isn't that what they all say?Isn't that what they all say?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-43890508781896614752016-10-29T15:52:34.431+00:002016-10-29T15:52:34.431+00:00Not a single oneNot a single onemicbainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08359106814230920250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-64427690602598812122016-10-29T13:14:45.352+00:002016-10-29T13:14:45.352+00:00see http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presiden...see http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/297719-economists-have-a-message-clintons-policies-are<br /><br />*not* all of the usual suspects but not all marginal either. Some might ask if all are economists (I checked they are profs)<br /><br />Eugene Fama, University of Chicago<br />Michael J. Boskin, Stanford University<br />Christopher Flinn, New York University<br /><br />Gordon Alexander, University of Minnesota<br />Frank Murray, University of Minnesota<br />Stephen Parente, University of Minnesota<br /><br />Mario Rizzo, New York University<br /><br />Ray Ball, University of Chicago<br />Charles Calomiris, Columbia University<br />Gregory C. Chow, Princeton University<br />Jerry Zimmerman, Univeristy of Rochester<br /><br />I'd say the profession comes out looking OK actually. Trump is a bridge too far many extremely conservative economists.<br />Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455788499385673507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-75180617543659408202016-10-29T12:49:35.601+00:002016-10-29T12:49:35.601+00:00Second comment on Magnus. It is odd to airbrush R...Second comment on Magnus. It is odd to airbrush RBC models away, but odder to describe a post which discusses RBC models as an effort to airbrush them away. It is certainly true that the RBC literature had a huge influence on current macroeconomics. This means that the suspicion that it was based on ideology has current relevance.<br /><br />NK economics owes a lot to RBC. This should be a source of concern for NK economists who think that the RBC research program was crazy. As noted by (among others) Prof Wren-Lewis, the conventions which govern which convenient assumptions are allowed and which aren't are very important. I'd go a bit further and argue that they are the cause of all of the apparent content of economic theory. They are definitely not based on evidence. They reflect the judgement that some models are interesting and worth exploring.<br /><br />Those decisions based on the intuition of a very few economists are central to current NK macroeconomics. It is hard to argue that someone had no common sense at all when thinking about unemployment, but should be trusted when thinking about saving and investment. Almost all current macroecnomic research relies on that argument which is hard to make.<br /><br />Exactly because current NK macroeconomics owes a lot to RBC, NK macroeconomists should worry about having no respect for the judgment of people on whose judgment they rely.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455788499385673507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-77010450703536284482016-10-29T12:28:55.190+00:002016-10-29T12:28:55.190+00:00Currently standard NK models are transparent about...Currently standard NK models are transparent about behavior only because they make assertions about behavior which are transparently false. <br /><br />Or in other words how much did you get when you sold the asset which requires you to provide the buyer with one unit of good the next time your wage adjustment calvo alarm clock rings ?<br /><br />The claim is that aggregates behave as if people faced the problems agents face in NK models and used the techiques economist use to solve them. <br /><br />That's not being transparent about behavior in any way consistent with the ordinary English meanings of the words "trasparent" and "behavior".Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455788499385673507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-44588865302015326882016-10-29T12:12:52.342+00:002016-10-29T12:12:52.342+00:00I agree entirely. It is true that there is very li...I agree entirely. It is true that there is very little macroeconomic evidence, but that doesn't explain why much of it is ignored. <br /><br />I do have one objection. I don't get "It is true that it took the development of New Keynesian theory to establish robust reasons why prices might be sticky enough to generate business cycles, but normally you do not ignore evidence (that prices are sticky) until you have a good explanation for that evidence." <br /><br />The current standard model of sticky prices is Calvo pricing. I don't think anyone thinks that's an explanation let alone a good explanation. Nor to I see any way in which it could be called "robust". I'd say that macroeconomists just decided to accept the fact that prices are sticky even though we don't have an explanation which is both plausible and tractable. <br /><br />I don't think that anyone who might be inclined to argue that new Keynesian economics is an improvement in any way over old Keynesian economics would base his case on the claim that price stickiness is explained by the Calvo fairy.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455788499385673507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-49422371565211777752016-10-29T05:35:42.556+00:002016-10-29T05:35:42.556+00:00Agreed; in fact, it's the opposite of what we ...Agreed; in fact, it's the opposite of what we observe. In actual recessions, involuntary job separations (i.e. layoffs) rise, and voluntary separations fall (by a comparable amount, curiously enough). JEChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13107662855215626812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-2440926216227445342016-10-29T00:28:41.970+00:002016-10-29T00:28:41.970+00:00What?? The headlines in the business section aren&...What?? The headlines in the business section aren't 'Acme Cuts Wages 20% and Hopes Nobody Quits'? Or 'Acme Cuts Wages 20% and Hopes Only the Least Productive Employees Quit'? Or 'Acme Management: We Haven't a Clue Who to Keep So We Cut Wages 20% And Crossed Our Fingers!'.Nathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16313341001000300892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-50634425953099046562016-10-28T23:46:07.448+00:002016-10-28T23:46:07.448+00:00But who is using RBC models these days?
Also to ...But who is using RBC models these days? <br /><br />Also to get it straight, in RBC model people choose not to work at the market clearing wage. That's not such a ridiculous conclusion. Even among my acquaintances are some who says that would work if they could earn a "fair" wage (which is much higher then the wage they have been offered). RBC models are not perfect and there is a lot of reasons to criticize those models, but one needs to be fair in the criticism. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-83576114165075495012016-10-28T15:08:31.129+00:002016-10-28T15:08:31.129+00:00But what I am talking about is simply ignoring key...But what I am talking about is simply ignoring key bits of data because they are inconvenient. I can't think of any other areas of economics that do that.Mainly Macrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09984575852247982901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-75201982252396318722016-10-28T15:02:54.781+00:002016-10-28T15:02:54.781+00:00If firms were doing what you say, we would see the...If firms were doing what you say, we would see them reduce wages after a negative productivity shock, and then workers quitting because they did not want to work at that wage. That is not what we see.Mainly Macrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09984575852247982901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2546602206734889307.post-6316294640552555122016-10-28T15:00:57.669+00:002016-10-28T15:00:57.669+00:00One thing New Classicals did not think they were d...One thing New Classicals did not think they were doing was microfounding Keynesian models. They did not say we want to rebuild Keynesian models in a way that avoids the Lucas critique. I wish they had. I have no problem seeing the RBC model as a flex-price NK model, but for a long time that was not how it was seen by academic economists.Mainly Macrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09984575852247982901noreply@blogger.com