Economics should never be treated as a science. Its claims are not falsifiable, which is why economists can disagree so violently among themselves: a rarer spectacle in science, where disputes are usually resolved one way or another by hard data.
It is a branch of anthropology and psychology, a moral discipline if you like. Anybody who loses sight of this is a public nuisance, starting with Dr Athreya.
Not new (about a month old), but I just read it today. It was in response to the suggestion by Dr Kartik Athreya, a Federal Reserve Economist, that only economics PhDs dare write on economic policies. Effectively slamming most of the bloggers who comment on said policies. Mainly because economics is hard… really hard.
Not true. Randomised controlled trials can falsify economic theories. (or pretty close – “fail to reject the null hypothesis”).
hey congrats on handing in the phd!
Thanks!