Selected in the top 100 Economics Sites

Selected in the top 100 Economics Sites

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Oh NOOOO!

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/flaws-are-cited-in-a-landmark-study-on-debt-and-growth/?src=un

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The most amazing thing in this whole situation isn't the recent uncovering of the potential issues regarding R&R's research. The main issue is those (primarily on the right) who used the research to push an agenda. These individuals ranged from "academics" to politicians. Many of these people cited R&R's research as proof that >90% debt/GDP caused decreases in growth. Completely ignoring the elementary mathematics of slower growth (the denominator) by definition would increase debt/GDP. The saddest thing are the academics (some at ECU) who used this to push an agenda on young impressionable minds.

April 18, 2013 at 5:41 PM
Randall Parker said...

ECU anger management assistance available here: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-studentaffairs/counselingcenter/selfhelp.cfm

April 18, 2013 at 6:17 PM
Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link.... it's nice to have a person who is in the teaching profession and has some knowledge of academic research within this discipline who is understanding of the concern involved with the sloppiness, disingenuousness, and deceit within higher education and that such acts could in fact make someone angry. Obviously it's okay for professors to speak their opinions during lectures, but to distort the work of others in an effort to push biased agendas to a blind audience is troubling. This is concerning especially in an academic setting where the audience trusts the lecturer to provide high quality and objective viewpoints on subjects where their knowledge of the subject is practically non-existent (let's not mention the fact that they pay for this).

I'm afraid however, that this issue is here to stay. And it is just as relevant for one side of the political spectrum as another. I suppose the only way to rid colleges of this problem would be to put an end to the "fluff" disciplines (ie: non-STEM). But that wouldn't be right either.........

April 21, 2013 at 5:44 PM
Randall Parker said...

FWIW, we also make sure to point out the other R&R results like the 86% increase in the public debt within three years of historical banking crises. Moreover, that it takes at least seven years to clear an economy of the jetsom and flotsom resulting from a financial crisis. Both of these facts place our current economy right in the average of post-crisis historical experience.

April 22, 2013 at 9:48 AM

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