At 10:42 PM 5/10/99 -0700, Peter D wrote: >...We are kidding ourselves if we think that the reason there are fewer research scandals in economics than, say, medicine is that economists are more honest and scrupulous. ... One of the big scandals of the 1980s was Martin Feldstein's erroneous use of a computerized model to trash Social Security. But he was rewarded for his work. Similarly, Robert Fogel produced econometric nonsense in the 1970s (with Stanley Engerman, the infamous book TIME ON THE CROSS) and was rewarded with an endowed chair in economic history at Harvard. I don't think the problem is with econometrics as much as with the economics profession. That profession can spin gold into dirty straw. This is not just true with econometrics (which is hardly gold) but also with the writings of Adam Smith and mathematics. I won't go into a schpiel about how the structure of the profession creates all sorts of perverse incentives, because I've done so before. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html Bombing DESTROYS human rights. US/NATO out of Serbia!
