Esther Duflo and I have two dramatically different conceptions of the task of economics. Duflo wants to make the world a better place. I do not believe I have this ability. In fact, expert biases also exist and can be more detrimental to human welfare...1/n #econtwitter
Expert failures are incredibly damaging to human welfare and can occur because experts fail to see what subjectively matters to people on the ground (see Koppl - amazon.com/Failure-Cambri… and @bill_easterly
amazon.com/Tyranny-Expert…) 2/n
amazon.com/Tyranny-Expert…) 2/n
Moreover, I work with creating data every day (historical mostly) and creating definitional consistency while also determining range of confidence in numbers. Just in the measurement (and standardization of income), there are wide uncertainties.
This has only made me skeptical towards my own ability to PROPOSE things that will make a better world. I am forced to limit myself to the following philosophy: I am not smart enough to know what works, I am just not dumb enough to think this will work.
After all, the power to make the world a better place comes with the ability to make it worse. I am terrified of causing harm, so should every economist.
