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Re:Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics by pessimizer on Tuesday February 23, 2021 @07:21AM (#26236463)
Yet it still gets grouped in as "heterodox."
Re:Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics by huitzitziltzin on Tuesday February 23, 2021 @07:45AM (#26236652)
No. Behavioral economics is absolutely not considered heterodox. Mainstream departments (Chicago, mit) all have behavioral people.

They don’t have heterodox people (eg marxists, Austrians, or MMT). Nor should they. CS departments won’t hire people who (for example) believe computers work via magic. Dollars and tenure lines are scarce and can’t be wasted on BS. There is a lot more diversity of thought in economics departments than commenters here know, but there are limits, as there are in every field.

Re:Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics by gmtx725 on Tuesday February 23, 2021 @07:54AM (#26236723)
my main problem with economics is it makes a philosophical error in that it assumes people and economic agents are inert objects to be studied as you would chemicals or atoms, without the capacity to react and respond to economic "laws" thereby changing them. Reflexivity is a thing.
Re:Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics by huitzitziltzin on Tuesday February 23, 2021 @09:18AM (#26237477)
> it makes a philosophical error in that it assumes people and economic agents are inert objects to be studied as you would chemicals or atoms, without the capacity to react and respond to economic "laws" thereby changing them.

This is literally the foundation of macroeconomics AFTER Keynes. This is (one of several) reasons why Keynesianism was rejected.

Every single macroeconomist in every mainstream department in the country (and everyone in a central bank anywhere) would agree with exactly what you said AND say that it is precisely that fact which makes macroeconomics really hard.

This is why, for example, even the bare-bones simplest macroeconomic model you learn in your first year graduate macro class must include some notion of the agents' expectations.

It would be an error if we didn't do that. But fortunately, it's been at least 50 years since we started thinking about exactly that problem.

Re:Four Basic Truths of Macroeconomics by rrrrrrrrrrrryan on Tuesday February 23, 2021 @08:51AM (#26237191)
Oh, come now - comparing Marxists to people who "believe computers work via magic" is a little harsh.

Econ departments don't have Marxists for the same reason philosophy departments don't have Buddhist scholars: it's just not where they belong. The Buddhists belong in religious studies, and the Marxists belong in the political science department.