Alex writes: I happen to think that much of what the profession demands is unnecessary, boring, absurd, and counter-productive but what has this to do with the way journals are refereed?
Well, that is the question isn't it? How about lack of accountability in double-blind systems? How about intellectual fadism within a profession? We have a problem of conspicous production in academics. This is why Tullock's thought experiments about how to arrange scientific inquiry are better than either whining about the profession or blindly accepting what goes on in the profession. Lets see which works have relevance to solving real world problems, or actually add value to philosophical discourse. We pay now for the line on the cv, rather than being paid for increasing the stock of human knowledge. The professional guild has its own organizational logic and this must be understood (a sort of nomenklatura system has emerged). Pete Peter J. Boettke, Deputy Director James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy Department of Economics, MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 PHONE: 703-993-1149 FAX: 703-993-1133 EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] HOMEPAGE: http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/pboettke ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alex Tabarrok" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 3:17 PM Subject: Not such a fantastically entertaining paper > In addition to Robin's comments I found the motivating factor of Frey's > paper to be weak. I take it that his main complaint is that referee's > force authors to prostitute themselves by making changes the authors > think are wrong. > > I personally have never experienced this problem and I would be > surprised if many people have, although I am willing to be enlightened. > To be sure, I have had papers rejected for bad reasons and sometimes I > have made changes to satisfy referees that I thought were not necessary > but I have never been asked to change a conclusion or to write something > I thought was false. In a few cases, referees have actually helped me > to improve the paper! (Yes, this does sometimes happen!). > > Now perhaps Frey is saying that the problem is that authors must > write their papers in a certain way even in order to have any hope of > getting published. Now certainly this is true - the profession demands > a particulary style of paper especially in the top journals. I happen > to think that much of what the profession demands is unnecessary, > boring, absurd, and counter-productive but what has this to do with the > way journals are refereed? Almost nothing. > > Alex > > > > -- > Dr. Alexander Tabarrok > Vice President and Director of Research > The Independent Institute > 100 Swan Way > Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 > Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
