Romer: a new trend in economics is polluting the discipline, names Robert Lucas
Romer, a professor at New York University, is worried that a new trend in economics — “mathiness” — is polluting the discipline. And he names names — including Robert Lucas and Edward Prescott, both Nobel laureates, and inequality guru Thomas Piketty.
In a follow-up comment, “Protecting the Norms of Science in Economics”, Romer says: “I point to specific papers that deserve careful scrutiny because I think they provide objective, verifiable evidence that the authors are not committed to the norms of science.”
But Romer’s attack is much more focused. He doesn’t mean that economics uses too much mathematics but that some economic theorists are pushing an ideological agenda and using fancy mathematics to disguise their intentions. They can redefine familiar words to mean unfamiliar things. They can make unrealistic assumptions. They can take hypothetical conclusions and suggest they have practical significance. And they can do all these things with little fear of detection, behind a smokescreen of equations.
If Romer is right, some economics papers are Orwellian Newspeak dressed up as calculus.
UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST Tim Harford, FT June 5, 2015
About Robert Lucas at IntCom
Economic theory discredited
In a follow-up comment, “Protecting the Norms of Science in Economics”, Romer says: “I point to specific papers that deserve careful scrutiny because I think they provide objective, verifiable evidence that the authors are not committed to the norms of science.”
But Romer’s attack is much more focused. He doesn’t mean that economics uses too much mathematics but that some economic theorists are pushing an ideological agenda and using fancy mathematics to disguise their intentions. They can redefine familiar words to mean unfamiliar things. They can make unrealistic assumptions. They can take hypothetical conclusions and suggest they have practical significance. And they can do all these things with little fear of detection, behind a smokescreen of equations.
If Romer is right, some economics papers are Orwellian Newspeak dressed up as calculus.
UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST Tim Harford, FT June 5, 2015
About Robert Lucas at IntCom
Economic theory discredited
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