Research papers decoded
17 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture Tags: academic bias, academic jargon, conjecture and refutation
The political bias of psychologists
05 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, economics of media and culture, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: academic bias, bureaucratic bias, expressive voting, Leftover Left, media bias, occupational choice, political bias, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, social psychology, Twitter left
Why is it that the economics profession is the only profession questioned on the grounds of its political diversity?
1) Academic psychology once had considerable political diversity, but has lost nearly all of it in the last 50 years;
2) This lack of political diversity can undermine the validity of social psychological science via mechanisms such as the embedding of liberal values into research questions and methods, steering researchers away from important but politically unpalatable research topics, and producing conclusions that mischaracterize liberals and conservatives alike;
3) Increased political diversity would improve social psychological science by reducing the impact of bias mechanisms such as confirmation bias, and by empowering dissenting minorities to improve the quality of the majority’s thinking; and
4) The underrepresentation of non-liberals in social psychology is most likely due to a combination of self-selection, hostile climate, and discrimination.
via Psychology’s Political Diversity Problem | Psychology Today.
The evolution of global warming scepticism
05 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of education, environmental economics, global warming, rentseeking Tags: academic bias, climate alarmism, global warming, green rent seeking, publish or perish
The evolution of the scientific method in climate science
03 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of education, environmental economics, global warming, rentseeking Tags: academic bias, climate alarmism, global warming, green rent seeking, philosophy of science, publish or perish, scientific fraud
The academic bias that dare not speak its name
23 Jun 2015 2 Comments
Academic libs in soc sci and humanities, cons in business and nursing, moderates in engineering and computer sci http://t.co/ixwbWb5M6X—
Whyvert (@whyvert) May 23, 2015
Economists are actually centre-left but are conservative compared to anthropologists
04 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economics, labour economics, occupational choice, personnel economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: academic bias, voter demographics
Verdant Labs published charts on the average political affiliations of various professions. Data from the Federal Election Commission on contributions to political parties was used that information as a proxy for political views. The ratios are Democrats (blue) vs. Republicans (red).
via Chart: The most liberal and conservative jobs in America – The Washington Post.
Essay questions for the Royal Economic Society Economics Essay Competition for 2015
19 Apr 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, behavioural economics, economics of education, history of economic thought Tags: academic bias, British politics, UK politics
Here are the choices of essay questions for the RES Economics Essay Competition for 2015 beta.tutor2u.net/economics/blog… http://t.co/iurHfRGOd9—
tutor2u Economics (@economicsuk) April 19, 2015
Political ideologies mapped by profession
08 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, human capital, occupational choice Tags: academic bias, media bias
The political proclivities of different occupations
30 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in occupational choice, Public Choice Tags: academic bias, media bias, political bias, voter demographics
Overcoming Bias : Exposing Scientist Liberality
24 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming, occupational choice, personnel economics Tags: academic bias, activists, climate alarmism, expressive 13, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
If the public knew the truth, I expect two effects:
- The public would consider scientists to be less authoritative as a neutral source on policy questions, and
- Since scientists are respected, the public would become less conservative and more liberal.
Sorry, Conservatives—Basic Economics Has a Liberal Bias By Matthew Yglesias
22 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in history of economic thought, occupational regulation Tags: academic bias, political bias
…here are some ideas that I’ve seen in most of the introductory economics textbooks I’ve looked at:
- Governments (typically through central banks) need to manage the demand level of national economies to prevent catastrophic recessions and mass unemployment.
- Absent carbon pricing, a market economy will massively overproduce greenhouse gases.
- Many industries, such as broadband Internet, are “natural monopolies” where an unregulated market will lead to higher prices and less investment than is socially optimal.
- Due to asymmetrical information, consumers in a market economy will be unable to bargain effectively with doctors and other providers of health care services.
- Due to adverse selection, consumers in a market economy will be unable to effectively insure themselves against health risks.
- Due to the declining marginal utility of money, taking $100 from a rich person and giving it to a poor one will increase human welfare.
- Increasing the number of immigrants, raising taxes on the rich, and making Social Security benefits more generous will make almost everyone better off.
I could go on like this. But suffice it to say that one of the main reasons that so many economists are Democrats is that on a whole lot of issues the basic econ 101 view supports the liberal position.
via Economics is liberal: Chris House on conservative economics..
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments