more politics than economics

If you love big government, you will love this book. If you don’t trust big government, you will hate this book. If you think big government cares about you, I have some swamp land you might like. The book starts by telling us not to believe economists who work for business because they have self-interests. We should just believe the economists who work for big government or educational institutions that get their funding from big government. Of course, taxes pay these economists and the book spends considerable time talking about preventing tax evasion so we can pay economists to run our lives. The book proceeds to dismiss the foundations of economic theory (rational consumer choice, profit-maximizing firms, efficient markets) but, inexplicably, says we should believe economy theory anyway. Of course, only when it supports the authors’ progressive views. Economists who disagree with the authors are either right-wing or old-school economists who have not read recent research. The book has plenty of references to behavioral economics or psychologists to support the idea that ordinary people are either stupid or bigoted and need economists/big government to help them run their lives. I generally support immigration. However, the author’s arguments for immigrate are purely political. Illegal and legal immigration are the same. Global warming and man-made global warming are the same. Very high taxes and equity are the same (again, we need to pay those government economists). At one point the book says that Hillary Clinton should definitely not have called Trump supporters (1/2 the voters) deplorables because it is not helpful (of course, they are deplorables). What does that have to do with economics? The book references some economic studies but given the progressive agenda of the authors, it is hard to know whether these studies are representative or just anomalies. Watching economists testify at multiple civil trials, I can tell you with certainty that two economics can take the same data and come to opposite conclusions. Hence, it is important to hear both sides. This book fails to tell us both sides. Moreover, name calling is not an econometric method.







