Comment on Chris Auld on ‘18 signs you’re reading bad criticism of economics’*
Blog-Reference
Mainstream economics/Orthodoxy faces a barrage of criticism. Most of the arguments, though, are rather silly and easy to refute by Orthodoxy. Accordingly, this type of criticism is quite welcome because in contrast to the imbecility of the criticism the absurdity of the maximization-and-equilibrium world appears in a better light. In a sense, Orthodoxy is still alive only because of silly criticism: “The enemies, on the other hand, have proved curiously ineffective and they have very often aimed their arrows at the wrong targets.” (Hahn)
The ineffective/false/silly/time-wasting arguments against Orthodoxy are:#1
1. cannot predict the future,#2
2. too much mathematics,#3
3. the assumptions/models are unrealistic,#4
4. not pluralistic,#5
5. not empirical enough,
6. justifies/encourages greed and exploitation,#6
7. should care more for the environment, We-the-People, our grandchildren,
8. should communicate better, especially with laypersons,
9. should take sides with the ninety-nine-percenters, and not with the one-percenters,#7
10. the proponents have unethical/selfish motives,
11. the proponents lack credibility.
Criticism ultimately cements only the status quo: “The moral of the story is simply this: it takes a new theory, and not just the destructive exposure of assumptions or the collection of new facts, to beat an old theory.” (Blaug) Science is not about signs or second-guessing or interpretation or credibility or authority but alone about knowledge and material/formal proof. The only effective criticism is the Paradigm Shift.
The mission of economics is to figure out how the economic system works. Economics is a systems science and neither a so-called social science nor political agenda-pushing.
Egmont Kakarot-Handtke
#1 See also Failed economics: The losers’ long list of lame excuses
#2 Scientists do NOT predict the future
#3 Mathiness is NOT the problem — scientific incompetence is
#4 Lacking the Midas touch of science
#5 Economics: The pluralism of false theories is over
#6 The economist as moralist
#7 The end of political economics
*
18 signs you’re reading bad criticism of economics
18 signs you are not having a productive conversation about economics
18 Signs Economists Haven’t the Foggiest
Related 'Again and again: economists are incompetent scientists' and 'False models and true incompetence'.
