I was used to browsing through the various econ blogs following the various wars piting the Saltwater School personified by Paul Krugman against the Freshwater School inspired by Lucas, Cochrane and mainly their Chicago fellas. Debates have been mostly around the interpretation of the Lucas Critique, effectiveness of the various fiscal stimuli, the Obama jobs creation or employment record, DSGE models e.t.c.
At first I noticed some hesitancy at first by the Chicago guys at debunking Krugman for reasons known to them but as Brad de Long puts it rightly "1. Krugman is always correct, 2. If you think Paul Krugman is wrong, refer to #1". But they soon took the bull by its horns. Definately Krugman has horned his talent as a pundit. Its fun to see academic superstars at each others throat over intellectual superiority.
But it is Post Keynesian Steve Keen who really pushed Krugman to the limits over their disputes on whether banking really creates credit. I will dwell upon the issue in future posts. But in observing all these blog wars, I have come to a conclusion that unorthodox economics needs to be given a fair share of breathing space in academia, public policy-making and the media. The economic and financial problems facing the world are yet to be fully understood.
No comments:
Post a Comment