16 August 2010

Wanted from Experts

In today's FT, David Schofield has a letter on describing what he wants to see from economists.  I think that his request could be more generally applied to experts from all fields:
[W]e should demand greater intellectual rigour when shaping and communicating economic policy.

I do not want to hear economists use their professional position to embellish pre-existing ideological, and often alarmist, narratives. I do want quantitative and political economists to deploy their unique tool sets to tell me about the fearsome trade-offs we have to address if we are to continue civilisation’s long march of human progress. I want to hear the language of innovation, uncertainty, optionality and risk, not wearisome political rhetoric and claims of spurious certainty.
Well said!