Karthik Srinivasan on Nostr: A nice hatchet job from the New Yorker! ...
A nice hatchet job from the New Yorker!
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/09/they-studied-dishonesty-was-their-work-a-lie
The story of morally and intellectually bankrupt superstar researchers who elevated what is/was/has always been a somewhat semi-decent, hardly scientific enterprise called behavioral economics (within social psychology) into a juggernaut of "just-so stories" that swayed nations, industries and academias to form absolutely horrendous worldviews and make decisions likewise.
The field: The poor need to be nudged (read, extra inconvenience) to make rational decisions with marginally any value to them. Meanwhile, dear corporations, here are some tax write-offs and subsidies; you can also engage in open thievery. That's our way to nudge you to do the right thing, i.e., fudging with the accounts. This is how we social engineer (All this, based on absolutely moronic and morally dubious "studies". I am reminded of the evo-psych psychopaths).
As if economics as it stands isn't dismal and unscientific enough, whether you legitimize with a couple Nobels or not, this is like "polishing a turd".
Of course not much is likely to change in academia across fields as well. It will continue to seek and hire more such people who will bring the money, fame, and storytelling at the expense of hard work and reality. Knowledge building and intellectual work... what's that?
#Dishonesty #Academia #BehavioralEconomics #Management #BusinessSchools #Economics #Nudge #pHacking #SocialPsychology
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/09/they-studied-dishonesty-was-their-work-a-lie
The story of morally and intellectually bankrupt superstar researchers who elevated what is/was/has always been a somewhat semi-decent, hardly scientific enterprise called behavioral economics (within social psychology) into a juggernaut of "just-so stories" that swayed nations, industries and academias to form absolutely horrendous worldviews and make decisions likewise.
The field: The poor need to be nudged (read, extra inconvenience) to make rational decisions with marginally any value to them. Meanwhile, dear corporations, here are some tax write-offs and subsidies; you can also engage in open thievery. That's our way to nudge you to do the right thing, i.e., fudging with the accounts. This is how we social engineer (All this, based on absolutely moronic and morally dubious "studies". I am reminded of the evo-psych psychopaths).
As if economics as it stands isn't dismal and unscientific enough, whether you legitimize with a couple Nobels or not, this is like "polishing a turd".
Of course not much is likely to change in academia across fields as well. It will continue to seek and hire more such people who will bring the money, fame, and storytelling at the expense of hard work and reality. Knowledge building and intellectual work... what's that?
#Dishonesty #Academia #BehavioralEconomics #Management #BusinessSchools #Economics #Nudge #pHacking #SocialPsychology