Nobel-winning economists Duflo and Banerjee will leave US for Switzerland \ stacker news ~econ

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Nobel-winning economists Duflo and Banerjee will leave US for Switzerland www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2025/10/10/nobel-winning-economists-duflo-and-banerjee-will-leave-the-us-for-switzerland_6746307_19.html#:~:text=United%20States%2Dbased%20Nobel%20laureates,said%20on%20Friday%2C%20October%2010.

343 sats \ 10 comments \ @spiderman 18h econ

I read their book called Poor economics and to be honest, I have deep cynicism of most academic economists, advocating for more central planning and themselves somehow getting their salary from taxes and political rent seeking. So I would not be too worried if these people leave the US, but still would love to hear what others more familiar with the economics research landscape think.

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100 sats \ 3 replies \ @SimpleStacker 7h

I'm an academic economist. Follow my latest research here: https://stacker.news/SimpleStacker#research-in-public

It's open for anyone to see and review, live, as I work on it. Hopefully it provides a transparent view on what economics research is, what it isn't, and what's valuable about it, and what's not.

I can't really comment much on the Duflo/Banerjee situation. I know they have a good reputation in the profession, but I personally am not that familiar with their work. I think the general public is either too trusting or too distrustful of academic economists. Few people seem to strike the right balance, but I don't blame them, since knowing what to trust and what not to requires a bit of insider understanding as to how the profession operates.

30 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 5h

Few people seem to strike the right balance, but I don't blame them [..]

Would it be fair to say that the balance should be sought in the aggregate, not in the individual?

since knowing what to trust and what not to requires a bit of insider understanding as to how the profession operates.

Is there a guide? Understanding academic economists for Dummies?

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 5h

Would it be fair to say that the balance should be sought in the aggregate, not in the individual?

No, I don't think that's preferrable. That just leads to pointless disagreements based on both sides having an inaccurate understanding

Is there a guide? Understanding academic economists for Dummies?

Good idea. I might make a post about this for Pleb Economist. If I had to give a short answer, I'd probably focus on:

Academic economics is better at understanding the past than predicting the future
Academic economics is better at highlighting tradeoffs than making decisions
Many academic economists make claims that go way beyond what's justified by the evidence, so take what they say with a grain of salt.
Even when they don't, other people use their research to make irresponsible claims. It's an unfortunate aspect of the profession that the economists themselves have little control over.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 4h

No, I don't think that's preferrable. That just leads to pointless disagreements based on both sides having an inaccurate understanding

The problem with that is that there will always be dissent for the sake of dissent, right? But you're probably right that some sort of middle truth is preferable. I sometimes wonder how we get there from polarization. How does society depolarize?

I might make a post about this for Pleb Economist.

That'd be awesome.

Even when they don't, other people use their research to make irresponsible claims. It's an unfortunate aspect of the profession that the economists themselves have little control over.

This happens even to me and I'm not an academic. I've seen whole theories being ascribed to some code even though I thought I'd made it crystal clear. It's at times hard to take the blame for not stating things unambiguously enough when it happens, which is also part of how I get to "dissent for the sake of dissent".

142 sats \ 4 replies \ @TNStacker 14h

Let me see if I get this. You read one book on one suggestion of an experimental approach and you take your cynicism and apply it to them broadly. So, instead of seeking opinion on the experiment they suggest. You judge them as people and seek opinion on that?

Am I getting this right?

63 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 12h

I'm not sure if that's what he's saying, but the developing world has taken some heavy blows from experiments gone wrong. I don't blame anyone for thinking poorly of the members of my profession.

42 sats \ 2 replies \ @TNStacker 12h

To me it sounds like the issue is with policy-makers, not the providers of information to policy makers. To me this is like blaming the firearm, instead of the user of the firearm.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 11h

In many cases I think that's a fair way to look at it. I'm critical of the hubris and arrogance many people in my profession operate under. I think they're betraying whatever trust has been placed in us as experts by not updating their priors or engaging with alternative perspectives.

There are numerous cases, though, of experts showing up in villages and doing stuff that ends up being pretty damaging. Sure, they usually get permission from some corrupt official beforehand, but I don't think that absolves them from experimenting on communities who aren't familiar with the bad track record of these experts.

I'd recommend William Easterly's book Tyranny of Experts for anyone who wants an overview of this topic.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TNStacker 11h

I'd recommend William Easterly's book Tyranny of Experts for anyone who wants an overview of this topic.

Thanks!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @035736735e 10h outlawed

stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.