Two of my favorite blogs are Cafe Hayek and Martin Kelly... not because what is written there always agrees with my perspectives, but because they constantly challenge the "obvious" and do so with integrity.
Recently Martin Kelly had a posting regarding a post at Cafe Hayek... are you following here? The gist (my interpretation) of the Cafe's post was that economists don't get the same kind of respect that physicists get. The gist of Kelly's response was that physicists deal with repeatable and verifiable facts which in turn lead to extrapolations that can be tested (theories)... whereas economists always seem content to disagree with each other (not a completely fair observation, but with a large element of fact).
I believe the task of the economist is far more difficult that that of a physicist. A physicist can build upon verified observations and testing to improve knowledge. An economist must deal with human behavior and institutions that are constantly changing and where the rules of interaction are, at best, chaotic. What appears reasonable and verifiable based on a small slice of human interaction considered to be economic in nature may well be just a "special case" situation that can be explained any number of ways... not just by the dynamics of trading or consuming.
That said, while I respect the knowledge and expertise at Cafe Hayek, I don't always agree with the conclusions reached there... I don't always disagree either. As I said in a previous post... these are my opinions backed up with data and other expert opinions. Data can be equivocal and experts can be mistaken... you decide.
Today I left a comment at Cafe Hayek on a post titled "A Yen for Understanding." If you are inclined to read discussions about the economy, trading practices, and who wins or loses... read the post and subsequent comments including mine.
As Martin Kelly says,
P.S. The Economist's View has the same topic as Cafe Hayek today. We'll call it the Economist's Lament.The explanation for this lack of deference is quite simple.Economics contains no universal absolutes such as E=MCSquared.E=MCSquared is true at all times and under all circumstances; 'comparative advantage' is not.