Yes, David, it is just naivete on your part to ask the question.
I too was unaware of this project and just now looked at a couple of the
papers, along with a quick skim of the titles. I'm not surprised at the
proposed agenda for research. I knew the level of smugness and
self-satisfaction among economists in the prominent schools. (To say nothing
of their ignorance.) The one by Autor and Katz is astonishing in smugness and
arrogance, concluding with proposed research topic that is trivial.
A few titles suggest an awareness of obvious problems and I might read some
additional ones. But I don't expect much to change in what the AEA folks think
about. as fruitless as it has been and is.
Gene
On Sep 17, 2011, at 5:13 PM, david barkin wrote:
> Subject: Ten Years & Beyond: Economists Answer NSF's Call
> I just found out about this project by the NSF and its description (included
> below): I looked over the list of 55 papers included on the AEA website and
> was struck by its extraordinary distance from the concerns of the people on
> this list serve and am moved to ask the people on this list whether they
> share my impression and its implications for a comment on the current state
> of thinking of the profession, even when thinking about the next generation
> research -- it seems quite striking how large a gap there is. Am I right? Is
> this just naivete on my part to be even asking this question?
>
> We would like to acknowledge and thank the National Science Foundation's
> Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (NSF/SBE) for
> challenging economists and other relevant research communities "to step
> outside of present demands and to think boldly about future promises."
> Specifically, NSF/SBE invited groups and individuals in August 2010 to write
> white papers that describe grand challenge questions in their sciences that
> transcend near-term funding cycles and are "likely to drive next generation
> research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences." NSF/SBE planned
> to use these white papers "to frame innovative research for the year 2020 and
> beyond that enhances fundamental knowledge and benefits society in many ways.
> This request is part of a process that will help NSF/SBE make plans to
> support future research." At the conclusion of the submission period on
> October 15, 2010, NSF/SBE had received 252 papers. A compendium of abstracts
> to the 252 white papers and most of the full texts of the white papers can be
> downloaded from the website http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/sbe_2020/. We are
> disseminating the white papers of interest to economists independent of the
> NSF because these papers offer a number of exciting and at times provocative
> ideas about future research agendas in economics that are worth further
> consideration by economists. These papers could also generate other
> compelling ideas for infrastructure projects, new methodologies and important
> research topics. Also some of these papers are not available at the NSF
> website because they were not submitted successfully by the deadline. We have
> placed 54 of the white papers on our website
> http://www.aeaweb.org/econwhitepapers/ and have assembled these white papers
> in this electronic publication.
>
> David Barkin
> Mexico
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