Empirical failure does not dislodge orthodox economists from their theory

Evidence

If one imagines the faint echoes of the Seekers after they were left stranded by the flying saucers, then perhaps you begin to comprehend how complaints that economists didn’t predict or foresee the crisis are not going to change anyone’s mind in economics. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 722

Categorization

• SEED: The flying-saucer cult analogy is a strong hook for an essay on how falsification fails against ideological communities — adaptation to disappointment rather than surrender.
• SHARE: This analogy about economists as failed flying-saucer cultists is perfect for a specific friend in behavioral economics.
• XREF: connects to: Unrealistic assumptions do not count as legitimate criticisms in financial economics — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 63; Contradictory econometric results cannot be adjudicated a priori — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 108; Economists’ modeling may bend economic reality toward theoretical assumptions — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 116 (+17 more)

Broader Connections

• Orthodox economics models structurally excluded the possibility of major crises #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 491
• A German economist proposed grounding economics in empirical behavioral sciences rather than abstractions #responds-to (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 328
• Professional exclusion of heterodox economists makes neoclassical orthodoxy self-reinforcing #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 824
• Behavioral economics gets coopted to excuse rather than reform orthodox theory #complicates (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 745
• Economics functions as conflict over belief rather than objective science #expands (0.75) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 779
• Behavioral economics has produced no empirical or theoretical payoff for macroeconomics #complicates (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 734
• Labor market experiments contradict the self-interested prediction of standard economic theory #exemplifies (0.72) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 150