This is a great article, but it is irritating that so many within the media and not even in academia give scathing rebuke to those who missed it while not acknowledging those who got it right.
I agree with much of what is said in this article. Part of the reason this has occurred is that there is now greater specialization in economics, but the media and public at large expect economists to pontificate on all issues economics.
The problem I have with the article is the monolithic group that economists are lumped into. First, undoubtedly many were wrong, including conventional wisdom. Second, and most importantly, there were many who saw this coming.
Here is a short non-exclusive list: RAGHURAN RAJAN, NOURIEL ROUBINI, PAUL KRUGMAN, and blogger CALCULATED RISK.
So, lets give credit where credit is due there were some serious economists who predicted this crisis, or predicted elements of this crisis. I think that the author should be a little more careful in spreading generalizations, when some important thinkers were pretty close to correct.
Here are other articles with more folks who were correct on various elements of the crisis. Link. Link. Link (this article is partly false because the ratings agencies played a big part in causing the crisis (correct portion); however Fannie and Freddie although a big part of the collateral damage were not a big cause of the problem).
No comments:
Post a Comment