Sins of Omission and the Practice of Economics

This paper advances the proposition that economics, as a discipline, gives rewards that favor the “hard” and disfavor the “soft.” Such bias leads economic research to ignore important topics and problems that are difficult to approach in a “hard” way—thereby resulting in “sins of omission.” This pap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic literature 2020-06, Vol.58 (2), p.405-418
Main Author: Akerlof, George A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
FORUM: Publishing in Economics—Two Views
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Summary:This paper advances the proposition that economics, as a discipline, gives rewards that favor the “hard” and disfavor the “soft.” Such bias leads economic research to ignore important topics and problems that are difficult to approach in a “hard” way—thereby resulting in “sins of omission.” This paper argues for reexamination of current institutions for publication and promotion in economics—as it also argues for greatly increased tolerance in norms for publication and promotion as one way of alleviating narrow methodological biases.
ISSN:0022-0515
2328-8175
DOI:10.1257/jel.20191573