From someone who prefers to blog anonymously.
Economics is a science, but it is a very politicized science. The Medicaid study, with its ambiguous results, offered justification for the policy proposals of both supporters and opponents of ACA, for example. Both sides were offering an incomplete picture of the study in this debate, but both sides were also correct the claims they made even if they strategically left out inconvenient findings.
Pointer from Tyler Cowen.
Read the whole thing. He is reacting to a column by Raj Chetty, and I had a similar reaction. While proclaiming the scientific virtues of economics, Chetty was sneaking in his own biases, through a selective presentation of results.
The more important point is that we all are tempted to do this, and we need to work hard to resist such temptation. One of the reasons for my occasional DY2PVSC posts (“Did you two people visit the same country”) is to try to pair up research that supports one side with research that supports the other.
Isn’t that Medicaid study the same one Russ Roberts did dueling podcasts over with Austin Frakt and Jim Manzi?
The DY2PVSC approach that you and Russ have used could be a real public benefit if used frequently -assuming enough economists pay attention. At some point the more thoughtful practitioners might dial back on the pre-conceptions and report data and outcomes more completely/honestly.
“…we need to work hard to resist such temptation.”
Politics is an emotional/lower-brain/animal-brain debate. Those of us who would like to win the debate are of course only going to use that data that supports our argument. I can’t imagine why on earth we’d do otherwise.
Your niche is to be supposedly measured, rational, and logical. That’s not my niche.
Benson te writes correctly Economics Isn’t A Science, And Never Will Be … http://tinyurl.com/ktvof3a
I comment relating that some ask me, are you a Republican or a Libertarian? I reply neither, I Am a reformed Christian, that is one remade by God, and a recovered Christian, one living in recovery of grace and truth. Those of political party will exist having political movement of some type to the end of this age. I have no fiat identity; rather I have identity out of Christ’s life, and life experience out of the His indwelling Spirit. Republicans and Libertarians both know “will worship”, that is they worship out of their will, things of human philosophy, whereas I worship Chris’s will, out of respect for Scripture, and know a movement of His Holy Spirit. I add that Republicans and Libertarians will forever be divided on moral issues such as what constitutes life and same sex marriage, and they both will forever be divided on economic issues, that is ethical issues.
Economics is synonymous with ethics, as when one says he has economic regard on an issue, he is saying he has ethical regard on the issue. Every person acts in dispensation, that is in household administration of things civil, monetary and political, and these action come from one’s convictions in philosophy or religion. Thus economics is either a philosophy or a religion; economics is defined as the quality and type of ethical experience present between a person, and another or others, corporations and the state, that is government.