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Insights from Modern Principles of Economics — LessWrong

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How good are our economists? Look around. On a 20-minute walk to my Berkeley office, I walked past people reeking of urine, past people lying in a dirty sleeping bag on a thin cardboard pad, past some garbage around a tent which housed a child who grew up into an impoverished adult. In what world is this broader system a success story for economics? In this world. The availability heuristic can deceive you (although Kaj Sotala notes that e.g. the Bay area homeless may be benefitting less from growth than the global poor). If you just look out your window, you might miss important global trends. Good economic policy has lifted billions of people out of poverty and furnished our lives with previously unimaginable splendor. The Roman emperors had no air conditioning or telephones. Economists are not responsible for all of this growth. I wasn't able to quickly find counterfactual estimates for the importance of economic theories, but my impression is that several advances in economics have

x Insights from Modern Principles of Economics — LessWrong Becoming Stronger Book Reviews / Media Reviews Economics World Modeling Frontpage 83 Insights from Modern Principles of Economics by TurnTrout 22nd Sep 2021 1 min read 64 83 How good are our economists? Look around. On a 20-minute walk to my Berkeley office, I walked past people reeking of urine, past people lying in a dirty sleeping bag on a thin cardboard pad, past some garbage around a tent which housed a child who grew up into an impoverished adult. Imagine living here. In what world is this broader system a success story for econo

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