Economics professors discredited

It is nice to see professional economists revealed as charlatans, as has just happened in the Reinhart and Rogoff affair. The conclusion being drawn is that economics is not a science. We disagree. Economics is a science but, but one in a state of great confusion, as a Cambridge University professor, the late Wynne Godley, once said at the start of an article written about thirty years ago. What has gone wrong? The physical sciences commence with a definition of their area of study and the proceed to the definitions of fundamental terms, leading on to the development of hypotheses, theories and models.

Because economics deals with human relationships, it also has to take into consideration matters of morality and justice. For instance: is robbery a legitimate economic activity? If it is not, then matters such as rights of ownership come into the picture. Can one own air? The sea? The surface of the earth? And if so, under what terms? Economics will then come into conflict with interest groups if their legitimacy is called into question. At that point, the truth may well end up getting buried. If there was a financial interest in denying the existence of gravity, be sure that it too would be written out of physics theory.