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Scientists play economic Paul Revere?

Jake Young has a skeptical take on the contention that science can save the economy. He ends:

In short, I think the suggestion, while well-meaning, is misguided. If all that would happen in this project was that more brains would be applied to the problem, I would support it. It would probably be harmless even if it was ineffective. However, I think it may be worse than that. Given the dismissiveness bordering on contempt with which most scientists hold economic problems, I think their participation would be actively unhelpful. What would result is a lot of acrimony and very little progress.
The pretension exemplified by articles like this are the problem, not the solution. Why do we assume that scientists riding in like the cavalry will save the day? Scientists need to get some humility and some goddamn’d respect in dealing with economic issues. The economy is no less difficult than the subjects we are studying, and we all know how long progress can take.
Further, the defining feature about all recessions and booms is that they end. This is something that neoclassical economics got right. The Great Depression and the Japanese recession during the 90s did end eventually. The long-term may take a long time in coming, but eventually it does arrive.


First, scientifically trained people are very common in quantitative finance. Second, history would probably have helped us see what was going to go down; the idea that property values were always going to go up was the latest tulip mania, though the idea was buttressed by “rigorous models.”
The way scientists can help the economy is simple: keep doing science & engineering and increase economic productivity through the generation of new techniques and technologies. That’s the real engine of growth & wealth. I think we’ve really hit the era of diminishing marginal returns when it comes to increasing efficiency through more intelligent capital allocation. Perhaps the lost luster of hedge funds and the financial sector more generally will mean that those trained in the mathematical sciences will remain in those fields. The argument in Knowledge and Wealth of Nations the modern affluence is the product of spillover effects from technological innovation should make it clear what the most optimal allocation of cognitive power is, at least when it comes to aggregate social utility.

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