Romer on whether economists should answer normative questions
In this article, Paul Romer argues that economists cannot dismiss the possibility that the profession has imposed on societies total costs that exceed total benefits:
In their attempt to answer normative questions that the science of economics could not address, economists opened the door to economic ideologues who lacked any commitment to scientific integrity. Among these pretend economists, the ones who prized supposed freedom (especially freedom from regulation) over all other concerns proved most useful—not to society at large but to companies that wanted the leeway to generate a profit even if they did pervasive harm in the process. When the stakes were high, firms sought out these ideologues to act as their representatives and further their agenda. And just like their more reputable peers, these pretend economists used the unfamiliar language of economics to obscure the moral judgments that undergirded their advice.
And:
The alternative is to make honesty and humility prerequisites for membership in the community of economists. The easy part is to challenge the pretenders. The hard part is to say no when government officials look to economists for an answer to a normative question. Scientific authority never conveys moral authority. No economist has a privileged insight into questions of right and wrong, and none deserves a special say in fundamental decisions about how society should operate. Economists who argue otherwise and exert undue influence in public debates about right and wrong should be exposed for what they are: frauds.
The Dismal Kingdom
By: Paul Romer – New York University
Henderson disagrees
[W]hen you think clearly about tradeoffs, you often do have more insight into normative issues than people who don’t think clearly about tradeoffs.
Did Paul Romer Just Call for a Witch Hunt?
By: David Henderson – Hoover Institution
Did the economists ruin the economy?
In this podcast Kate Waldock (Georgetown University) and Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago) interview Binyamin Appelbaum whose book “The Economists’ hour” has triggered the above debate.
Did the Economists of the ’60s and ’70s Ruin the Economy?
