Thread by @cacrisalves

The #nobelprizeeconomics has been celebrated among not-so mainstream quarters. It’s ‘useful’, it ‘challenges’ the mainstream, it has ‘real world’ insights. Putting aside the merit of the work & individuals who won, here’s little thread as to why we should remain critical. 1/n

1st point relates to how econs have a [market] analysis based upon a general & poor theory so that their time-consuming task is to empirically show all the potentially disturbing factors that moves us from the ‘far-fetched’ normal. 2/n @sanjuktampaul

https://twitter.com/sanjuktampaul/status/1447587961424523271?s=20

2nd point relates to method in economics and @sanjuktampaul’s point as well. Why the focus on causal studies? What is the theory behind these causal studies? Are causal studies the main/only way to make economics look like a relevant discipline’? 3/n

https://twitter.com/ingridharvold/status/1447842006403887104?s=20

3rd point. How far do we bend to uncritically accept empirical studies w/ good explanatory power in a context of a hegemony of theories w/ bad assumptions? Shouldn’t we question the fashionable trend where econ has to prove the obvious? 4/n @erinhengel

https://twitter.com/erinhengel/status/1448385836219830289?s=20

4th point. What about the sociology of the profession? The #nobelprizeeconomics rewarded insights in the labour market but don’t forget that others econs with less space in the profession were also walking on a similar path. 5/n

https://twitter.com/SawyerMalcolm/status/1448263090060070914?s=20

&

https://twitter.com/SawyerMalcolm/status/1448268903679934468?s=20

5th point. Econs should be careful when thinking that empirical/natural experiment studies do not have a theoretical background (

https://twitter.com/JoMicheII/status/1448379381307555848?s=20

). Have a look at @ingridharvold’s critique of #nobelprizeeconomics 2020 sciencedirect.com/science/articl… &

https://twitter.com/ingridharvold/status/1448362802410819594?s=20_

6/n

6th point. Is Card's work seminal in showing how “neoclassical understandings of labour markets are total BS?”. Well, @NathanTankus sets the record straight. Card’s work “reinforces a monopsony frame”, which makes sense in a perfect competition world. 7/n

https://twitter.com/NathanTankus/status/1448365204119695371?s=20

7th point – also related to the sociology of our profession. Get your history of economic thought right, so you can be less enthusiastic, more nuanced and more critical about which kind of insights the #nobelprizeeconomics is rewarding. 8/8 @Ramanan_V

https://twitter.com/Ramanan_V/status/1447557297115328513?s=20