:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Thursday, November 13, 2003 ::

Extremely well put
AnalPhilosopher

Scientists, too, risk losing whatever authority and respect they once had when they enter into public-policy debates. Economists are the worst culprits. Economics aspires to be a science, but many of its practitioners believe that they can and should take normative stands on matters of policy and principle. Where did economists get normative expertise? I’m dumbfounded by the arrogance. Economics will earn respect as a science only when its practitioners cease evaluating. They have a great deal to contribute to public affairs. What they have to contribute is an understanding of how things are, not how they ought to be. Economics is the science of means, not of ends. It issues hypothetical imperatives, not categorical imperatives. It is said that many social-scientists have physics envy. Perhaps they envy the authority of physicists. If so, they should focus on facts, as physicists do. Physics earns its authority the old-fashioned way: by staying above the fray.

:: Jim Nichols 11/13/2003 09:50:00 PM [+] ::
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