Christopher Hayes writes in the Nation:
Mafia is probably a tad hyperbolic, but there is undoubtedly something of a code of omertà within the discipline. Just ask ... David Card. ... Card, a highly esteemed economist at the
Of course, Card's other famous study, the one of Miami in 1980-85 claiming that immigration doesn't lower wages, is wildly popular with many of the same free market economists and open borders pundits who hate the conclusion of his minimum wage study.
The problem with economics these days is not so much the various models as that economists believe that having models lets them get away without knowing much about the real world.
For example, Card's comparison of wage trends in Miami in 1980-85 relative to four other cities is pretty useless because that was the peak of the Scarface - Miami Vice cocaine boom in that city, so ceteris wasn't at all paribus. Now, anybody who watched TV in the 1980s should know that, but economists never seemed to notice it when discussing Card's study.
Worse, economists seldom seem to care that they are often ignorant about the realities that they so confidently pronounce upon.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer