Thursday, September 10, 2009

Turns out economists aren't perfect

...and neither are the markets. Paul Krugman recently published a piece in the NYT saying what he's been saying for a while: the dominant school of economic thought in the US, which dictates that markets are perfectly efficient and investors are perfectly rational, might be a little inaccurate.

He presents an interesting story about the academic culture in the economics world with respect to dissenting opinions; the audience at conferences will begin to talk and giggle if a presenter appears to take a Keynesian standpoint. The dogma of the perfectly efficient market is never questioned, even when evidence suggests otherwise. Naturally, Krugman has his own biases and the article is a simplifcation for layfolk, but I find it truly unsettling that this powerful, high-paid people in charge of vast sections of the economy simply don't accept that people and corporations do not always act rationally.

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