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Is The Economist Always Wrong?

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Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#71

Post by rfrey »

dreambuffer wrote: post #68
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taleb is literally mostly an influencer who once traded (and sucked at it).

Taleb made a lot of money trading, his firm failed but running a successful business is not trivial and his ideas ended up working when he took up an advisory role rather than an executive role. Unlike other financial "influencers", he actually seems to understand mathematics to a high degree. Hardly your typical economist op ed writer.

He made money when he was working for other people. He did not make money when he tried to trade off his ideas. That was 25 years ago, since then he just broadcasts his ideas.

No skin in the game, as it were.

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#72

Post by gms »

hliyan wrote: post #11
epolanski wrote: post #8

I really like the economist, they are quite centric in their views but don't hide a certain bias for strong representative democracies, deregulation, globalism and open (publicly traded) markets. Their writing style is probably the cleanest in the industry and they always point out potential conflict of interest even though I've never seen the write anything really positive about the companies Exor controls (Stellant…

The Economist Group is largely owned by the Agnelli family ("Italy's Kennedys"), Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith, the Rothschilds and others, which is likely a significant factor in those biases.

They've been around since before their current owners were born and espousing the same philosophies.

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#73

Post by adamwk »

billfor wrote: post #69
epolanski wrote: post #8

I really like the economist, they are quite centric in their views but don't hide a certain bias for strong representative democracies, deregulation, globalism and open (publicly traded) markets. Their writing style is probably the cleanest in the industry and they always point out potential conflict of interest even though I've never seen the write anything really positive about the companies Exor controls (Stellant…

They are not "quite centric" politically, unless you are a liberal. Contrast the number of times the phrase "far-right" appears with the equivalent (far-left, progressive, radical left, etc..). They go out of their way to use negative adjectives describing right-wing (US definition) people or concepts, but not so much the left. The "Lexington" column is completely devoted to liberal (not classical liberal) ideas, and…

The Economist is a British journal, so why would you use US definition of right wing to evaluate their centrality?

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#75

Post by jrmg »

epolanski wrote: post #8

I really like the economist, they are quite centric in their views but don't hide a certain bias for strong representative democracies, deregulation, globalism and open (publicly traded) markets. Their writing style is probably the cleanest in the industry and they always point out potential conflict of interest even though I've never seen the write anything really positive about the companies Exor controls (Stellant…

I love that the top two (currently) replies to this claim that the Economist is ‘centric’ are one that’s arguing that it’s obviously too left wing for that label, and another arguing that it’s obviously too right-wing.

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#76

Post by kensai »

adamwk wrote: post #73
billfor wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not "quite centric" politically, unless you are a liberal. Contrast the number of times the phrase "far-right" appears with the equivalent (far-left, progressive, radical left, etc..). They go out of their way to use negative adjectives describing right-wing (US definition) people or concepts, but not so much the left. The "Lexington" column is completely devoted to liberal (not classical liberal) ideas, and…

The Economist is a British journal, so why would you use US definition of right wing to evaluate their centrality?

Valid comment, but prolly because this is the reality he knows. Which is fair.

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#77

Post by dreambuffer »

rfrey wrote: post #71
dreambuffer wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taleb made a lot of money trading, his firm failed but running a successful business is not trivial and his ideas ended up working when he took up an advisory role rather than an executive role. Unlike other financial "influencers", he actually seems to understand mathematics to a high degree. Hardly your typical economist op ed writer.

He made money when he was working for other people. He did not make money when he tried to trade off his ideas. That was 25 years ago, since then he just broadcasts his ideas. No skin in the game, as it were.

You don't have to be self-employed to have skin in the game, that's ridiculous.

How many op ed writers have tried to have skin in the game at all? How many of them produce writing which is actually high quality and not just concern trolling about China or what have you?

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#78

Post by stackghost »

giacomoforte wrote: post #31
memoriyato3 wrote: post #22

to quote Taleb: those who can, do (trade). those who can't, write about it (financial press)

I like to say, traders and people you put money on the line are often far more honest about economic policy, than economic influencers like The Economist.

Traders have no more special insight into economic policies than anyone else. The economy != the market.

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#79

Post by yieldcrv »

LLM’s are not good at confidence scores, even 5.5 and Fable make them up on the spot

they are good at schemas that contain specific criteria, a list of objectives that apply to the whole dataset

that then can be reduced to a fraction, 1/10, 8/10, 9/10

they didnt do that here so run the query again when your rate limit is lifted

Re: Is The Economist Always Wrong?

#80

Post by billfor »

adamwk wrote: post #73
billfor wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not "quite centric" politically, unless you are a liberal. Contrast the number of times the phrase "far-right" appears with the equivalent (far-left, progressive, radical left, etc..). They go out of their way to use negative adjectives describing right-wing (US definition) people or concepts, but not so much the left. The "Lexington" column is completely devoted to liberal (not classical liberal) ideas, and…

The Economist is a British journal, so why would you use US definition of right wing to evaluate their centrality?

We do read the Economist in the US, and Lexington in particular in the US section. I use the US definition of right wing because I'm in the US and didn't want to confuse Europeans that have a different definition of what "right" is when I use it in a sentence. All I was doing is correcting (and providing evidence for) the reference that they are "quite centric". They are not anywhere near the center of issues consistently. If you want more evidence, Allsides also rate it left of center, https://www.allsides.com/news-source/economist-media-bias

I notice it because I've been reading it for 20+ years. In the last 10 years it has taken a notable turn to the left. Whatever your viewpoint, the "tone" and "lean" of the magazine has shifted in the last decade. It's still a good source of information and I do read it every week.

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