12 Comments

Really? In 1930, Henry Simons and Frank Knight offered a plan for ecomonic recovery basically used to raise prices and give money directly to people who neeeded it. Essentially, the plan was followed. Among the people who said it worked were Paul Samuelson, Milton Friedman, Hyman Minsky, James Buchanan, Herb Stein, Dan Patinkin, all students of these men. In 1936 or so, Simons convinced Hayek that deflation was always bad. Schumpeter also admitted as much in the 1930s, pointing out that he advised in giving money to people even if there were some down sides. BTW , the same applies to charity. Charity is a disincentive in the same way as Government money. Hilariously, I've had people tell me charity is okay since it's such a small amount, and then argue it's the answer for helping people. In other words, people could always give more as long as it's up to them . Unreal.

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I know nothing about Shadi Hamid, but he sounds like a Republican: make up a trope that actually reflects what your side does[1], and pretend that it applies, instead, to Democrats and the hated libruls. [1] i.e. the trope that a given side makes mask, vaccination, etc. status a cultural marker.

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Even if science only advances "funeral by funeral", economic science is different. The difference is with the incentives of funders. When the chemical industry funds chemical science, it usually wants better chemistry. When business funds economic (or legal) science, it wants almost invariably wants legitimation.

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Re: Ricks

Maybe a war built on lies also infects the officer corps.

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Re: "science progresses funeral by funeral". That is a meme that applies only to sides that are deeply invested in a particular theory, famously, Plate tectonics and Continental Drift vs a globally rigid crust. The vast amount of science is not done this way, and practicing scientists are always revising their models based on new data that contradicts a previously held hypothesis or theory. This is egregious "whataboutism" and says more about the sort of people who appear to be more like the organized religions when faced with the disruption caused by scientific thinking.

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The "Why our generals were more successful..." video is fascinating.

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