David, you are correct. I only hope that you apply the same standards to Chicago, which absolutely lets itself be budged by empirical evidence.
This is from an article I am preparing: In fact, the Chicago style of economics is famous for rejecting empirical evidence out of hand. Deirdre McCloskey, a former Chicago faculty member, recounted how people who used data that called the theory into question would "be met by choruses of 'I can't believe it' or 'It doesn't make sense'." Milton Friedman's own Money Workshop at Chicago in the late 1960s and the early 1970s was a case in point" (McCloskey 1985, p. 140). Melvin Reder, another Chicago faculty member, offered further insight in the way that Chicago refuses to give ground in the face of evidence that calls the micro-foundations into question: ##Chicago economists tend strongly to appraise their own research and that of others by a standard that requires [inter alia] that the findings of empirical research be consistent with the implications of standard price theory .... The major objective is to convert non economists to their way of thinking .... However imaginative, answers that violate any maintained hypothesis of the paradigm, are penalized as evincing failure to absorb training. [Reder 1982, pp. 13, 18, and 19] On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 07:04:05PM -0700, David B. Shemano wrote: > Because of the complexity of national economies, arguing that a macroeconomic > economic theory is true "all other things held equal" is like asking Mrs. > Lincoln how she liked the play, other than the shooting. I remain fascinated > and puzzled how economics fits into the science paradigm of testable > hypothesis, etc., and whether the presentation of empirical evidence has > much, if any, influence on economists' preconceived positions. > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
