Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig • Hacker News Board

Re: Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig

#81

Post by dereg » Tue, Oct 11, 2022, 2:30 AM UTC

polymathemagics wrote: post #64

Reading these comments make me feel sad about the state of Hacker News. As with any large public forum, it's turning into an anti intellectual space where takes like "economics is not a science, it's a social science!" are the best we have to offer. It's either engineer syndrome, or it's brigading from other niche political forums. I'm tired of reading knee jerk reactions to fields from commenters that have zero expe…

It has really gotten out of hand. I'm no fan of Ben Bernanke there's a way to have a constructive discussion about his work and waving a wand of preconceived notions is not one of them.

Re: Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig

#82

Post by raspberry1337 » Tue, Oct 11, 2022, 6:44 AM UTC

avidphantasm wrote: post #48

raspberry1337 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>do they use the scientific method? yes. it's science. "The scientific method is the process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation" [1] But economics does not objectively establish facts, it establishes subjective facts. Since every "experiment" is conducted in theory or in a simulation at best, and not in the real market - it pretends to investigate reality when in fact all it experim…

I would argue that Marx’s process-based description of the dynamics of Capitalism have proven to be much more valid (e.g., coercive law of competition, declining rate of profit) than those of neoliberal economics. Are either a science? No. They are schools of thought within political economy. Are they useful? Well, I’ve just stated my opinion above. YMMV.

>I would argue that Marx’s process-based description of the dynamics of Capitalism have proven to be much more valid

Declining rate of profit seems to be another one of Marx's ghosts if you ask me, we sure aint seeing it under covid with these record profits.

Re: Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig

#83

Post by raspberry1337 » Tue, Oct 11, 2022, 6:48 AM UTC

throw0101c wrote: post #45

raspberry1337 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>do they use the scientific method? yes. it's science. "The scientific method is the process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation" [1] But economics does not objectively establish facts, it establishes subjective facts. Since every "experiment" is conducted in theory or in a simulation at best, and not in the real market - it pretends to investigate reality when in fact all it experim…

> Since every "experiment" is conducted in theory or in a simulation at best, and not in the real market Really? Because post-GFC there was all sorts of economic experimentation with regards to austerity: * https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/09/how-does-austerity-af... Also: * https://www.businessinsider.com/austerity-has-damaged-europe... * https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr... * https://w…

>Really? Because post-GFC there was all sorts of economic experimentation with regards to austerity:

You can't just spam out a number of articles and expect me to read them all and make out your point for you. Please, this is not reddit.

If you have a counterpoint to make to the fact that no economic experiment can be conducted in real time in the market, and also be repeated, then please share it. I'd love to hear it.

From your first source, just as an example.

>we explore the correlations in the data starting from the simplest and gradually building up – in a step-by-step, transparent manner – to multivariate regressions based on various samples of countries for different periods.

So they looked at data from one unique timeperiod in history. This is not a repeatable experiment.

Re: Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond, Philip Dybvig

#84

Post by piva00 » Tue, Oct 11, 2022, 7:44 AM UTC

Lionga wrote: post #60

throw0101c wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The consequences of the FED money printing are just starting to show. So having an economy in with the unemployment rate being the lowest it's been in decades is a bad thing? Would you rather have low economic growth and millions of people out of work? Would that that make you happy? I'd rather have an economy that's "too hot" with inflation that needs to be slowed down than having people not getting a pay cheque a…

The slowing down now will cause more suffering than a slow economy during covid would have been. They are raising rates but inflation is not going down at all. Until it does there is not just "low economic growth" but rather economic contraction and even more out of work than if they did just let economy take its natural course and correction during covid. Will that make you happy?

A slow economy during a pandemic would create so much social strife and unrest... Imagine for a second if people didn't have a job, couldn't get out of the house, didn't get any money to buy food and/or pay rent. Do you think any society would have endured 2+ years of pandemic emergency actions while going through a deep recession?

The economy are people's lives, not just numbers to be balanced. Keep that in mind, empathy goes a long way to help understand human systems.