Economists
topic on 3 shows · 6 statements across 5 episodes
the Knowledge Project
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the a16z Podcast
6 statements about Economists, every show
Sutherland: Accountants, lawyers, and economists hold too much corporate power
“I'm only angry with accountants and lawyers and economists, not because they do what they do, but because they have too much power doing it. And they've achieved a kind of monopoly over decision making, which I don't think they have a reasonable claim to.”
Scott Santens: Economists overwhelmingly rejected Charles Murray's plan to replace welfare with UBI
“Charles Murray's plan is to actually cash out everything and just provide people this universal basic income, and it actually, it was asked of economists if they would approve of that, and, like, it was virtually, like, no economist approved of that approach”
Smith: Economists Lack a General Theory for Trade Adjustment
“To be honest, it's really not easy to tell when that will and won't happen, and there's no general theory that economists have about adjustment.”
Smith: Economists Focus on Equilibrium While Ignoring Transition Paths
“Economists often think to the very end and think about equilibrium and ignore the path for how you get there.”
Sutherland: Human decision-making prioritizes catastrophe avoidance over outcome maximization
“And so that hunch that actually what we're doing when we make decisions is looking for ways to minimize the worst case scenario. Reliable signals that the worst case scenario isn't going to be that bad or that likely. Almost more than we're attempting to maxim…”
Housel: Analysts cling to incorrect positions to protect career stability
“There are analysts and economists who cling to positions that they know are wrong. They know in their head are wrong, but because of their career liability, their professional reputation, they don't want to change their mind out of fear of looking like a flip-…”