What do you think of this conservative economist and his books?
I have read his books “Race and Economics” and “Marxism: Philosophy and Economics” I think he comes across as an honest conservative and very philosophical.
I’ve read his book “Basic economics”. I learned a lot. I’m looking forward to reading “Applied Economics”, “knowledge and decisions”, “visions of the annointed”, and “A conflict of visions”.
I’ve also never seen any liberals successfully critique his books.
Any economist where you would put “liberal” or “conservative” in front of their name is not really a scientist. They have their ideology, and they will always make the data fit their ideology. If you look at his lockstep positions in so-called “culture wars”, it is clear that he is just as biased as Rush Limbaugh.
So what apolitical economics writer would you recommend? Anyway, the book I read caught my attention after I read a review by an apolitical economist (who is often critical of liberals and conservatives).
Who are the most established economics writers? I know that Paul Krugman is prolific for the left.
nocareer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Who are the most established economics writers? I > know that Peter Krugman is prolific for the left. “Paul Krugman”.
By the way, that Rush comparison is severe hyperbole. He doesn’t believe in quite a few conservative positions.
nocareer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So what apolitical economics writer would you > recommend? Anyway, the book I read caught my > attention after I read a review by an apolitical > economist (who is often critical of liberals and > conservatives). Economics is largely an editorial science - frequently, when presented with conflicting data, practitioners use the data that fits their view and ignore all other. Additionally, people want to hear what they want to hear, so if you are an economist, you cannot just sit on the fence and be successful - you have to pick sides. So I would not focus on one writer to develop my economic worldview. Couple of recent books on the subject I read - Development of Freedom (Amartya Sen) and Animal Spirits (George Akerlof) were interesting, but once again, you have to consider economic thought a matter of opinion. On other hand, Sowell often engages in extreme biased writing, where it seems like his talking points come out straight from political think tanks. Once again, people want to hear what they want to hear. Since economic though is hard to prove/disprove, focusing on “liberal media claims” that he frequently stresses: -Scientific studies have shown that conservative think tanks are most quoted in the media (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2534) -With hard “conservative” ideological news sources dominating both Cable News(Murdoch), Radio(Clear Channel) and print (WSJ, Forbes) - Local newspaper largely owned by “conservative” political interests, it is difficult to see justification for perpetuating such myth beyond just telling people what they want to hear.
Thanks for the informative response. I’m still trying to develop an economics worldview, and I’ve read “Spin-free Economics” (center-right), " Economics" (Economist guide), and “Basic Economics” (Sowell). I’ve noticed that TV media tend to be liberal biased while print media is generally conservative biased. But aren’t most Economists center-right or right wing anyway?
Umm, Murdoch owns Fox broadcast channel which is clearly not a “conservative” or family network as it originated in the late 1980s some of the more “vulgar” TV shows, such as Married with Children, and continues to show some of the more extreme/not-particularly-family programing. And some of its shows, notably Family Guy, have continuously taken shots at Fox News. Ownership really has nothing to do with political bias–management has much more to do with it. And I’ll point out that just because the Wall Street Journal is one of the last thriving newspapers doesn’t mean that conservatives control the newspaper industry. It just shows that it’s a well run newspaper.
CFAchief, those economists you recommended are liberals. The former is obsessed with human rights.
Has anyone read “Knowledge and decisions”?
CFAchief drinks the koolaid, everything he says is partisan. In fact, I doubt he even works in Finance.
Thomas Sowell has released a new book: http://www.amazon.com/Housing-Boom-Bust-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465018807/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241737737&sr=1-4 The Housing Boom and Bust. With all the leftist viewpoints out there, I’m eager to try this one out.
Anyway, Sowell identifies himself as center-right and libertarian leaning, but he doesn’t hold extremist positions against the Fed like Ron Paul & Co. do.
Economists exist to produce plausible sounding justifications for pre-conceived notions. Can anyone name a single economist who’s been more consistently right on the economy than mere chance would dictate? I can’t think of any. Their entire livelihood depends on their ability to sell something, whether it’s a fund or a political program. That’s why most all of them have a political bias if they are in academia. If they are in the private sector, most are either lemmings or hyperbolic windbags trying to get some marketing for their firm on CNBC.
“he doesn’t hold extremist positions against the Fed like Ron Paul & Co. do.” Isn’t it sad that wanting to simply follow the Constitution is considered radical these days?
T2 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > “he doesn’t hold extremist positions against the > Fed like Ron Paul & Co. do.” > > Isn’t it sad that wanting to simply follow the > Constitution is considered radical these days? Yes, especially when it was written centuries ago. Ever heard the word “evolve”?