Michael Perelman wrote:
> > There is a difference between climate science and neoclassical
> > economics.
> >
> > 1. For more than a century, dissenting economists have been purged for
> > reasons other than competency.  Has that happened with climate
> > scientists.
> >
> > 2. Depite the purges, there are well-trained economists who dissent.
> > The dissenting climate scientists are not purged, but are subsidized by
> > business interests.

raghu wrote:
> This is exactly the sort of thing that would be apparent to someone
> who took the trouble to study either subject a bit closely and not
> just rely on claims to authority of supposed experts.
>
> On the other hand, if we follow Robert Gassler's lead and simply offer
> a free 'A' to any student who can find five articles in the scientific
> literature trashing the main ideas of free market economics, the
> results may force us to accept free market doctrine as established
> science. Because, of course, in the mainstream journals what we'll
> find invariably are at best mild dissents from the orthodoxy.

Not true. It's EASY to find 5 or 100 or even 1000 economics articles
"trashing the main ideas of free market economics." The hegemony of
free market economics is not total, especially with liberals like
Akerlof, Arrow, Krugman, Myrdal, or Stiglitz getting Economics Prizes
in Honor of Alfred Nobel. They're (new Deal) liberals, yes, but that's
not the same as "free market economics."

A key difference between climate science and neoclassical economics is
that while the latter only claims to be scientific (and fails
drastically), the former actually is a science in many ways. Since
economics deals with an extremely complex system (human society), it
can't be a "science" like physics or chemistry. People are too
complicated, especially if it's a person trying to understand us.

Even though economics will never be a science like physics,  it's good
discipline to try. Neoclassical economics does not do so, since the
"hard core" of their research program includes most of their
"science." It's all ideology.
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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