That basically agrees with my experience (mentioned in the discussion you linked) that economists lack a Level 2 understanding of their speciality. That is, they cannot trace the inferential paths they rely on, all the way back to the layman level.
Yes, that’s a very good remark. This summarizes my frustration with economic concepts very well.
Then you may be interested in this exchange I’m having with John Salvatier, a follower of Scott Sumner, a mainstream monetary economist (MME) who really aggravates me by how he advocates those stupid monetary policies I mentioned, and his (Sumner’s) very transparent lack of a Level 2 understanding. (This is touched on in my exchange with John, in which he agrees that Sumner’s model [though perhaps not his general understanding] would not be able to give the right recommendations in cases where nominal GDP drops for good reasons, but rather, would slavishly try to force it back up, steamrolling over good efficiencies.)
Unlike the popular MMEs, John is able to take the time to cross the (enormous) inferential distance between our positions on economic policy.
SilasBarta:
Yes, that’s a very good remark. This summarizes my frustration with economic concepts very well.
Then you may be interested in this exchange I’m having with John Salvatier, a follower of Scott Sumner, a mainstream monetary economist (MME) who really aggravates me by how he advocates those stupid monetary policies I mentioned, and his (Sumner’s) very transparent lack of a Level 2 understanding. (This is touched on in my exchange with John, in which he agrees that Sumner’s model [though perhaps not his general understanding] would not be able to give the right recommendations in cases where nominal GDP drops for good reasons, but rather, would slavishly try to force it back up, steamrolling over good efficiencies.)
Unlike the popular MMEs, John is able to take the time to cross the (enormous) inferential distance between our positions on economic policy.