“Economics is Superior to All Sciences” Senator Ben Sasse
Ben Sasse, the Senator for Nebraska posted on his twitter account commenting on the merits of various academic field. In this tweet he claimed that sports, hard sciences and humanities are superior to social; sciences. Further, he claimed that economics is superior to all other sciences.
Economics is thought to be rightward leaning field and that may be the reason why the Senator said this discipline is better.
Responding to the Senator’s tweet, Erin Gloria Ryna, a writer at the Daily Beast commented that “economics is astrology for dudes.” This response was subsequently retweeted over 5,000 times.
This sounds so true because only 13 percent of tenured economists in the United States are women. Males dominate the discipline of economics. In addition to that records shows that it’s only one woman who has ever won a Nobel Prize in economics.
Even the undergraduate programs are dominated by males. Analysts have further observed that when a research paper is published by both male and female, the former are given more credit.
Economics cannot be compared to astrology because the field has theories that work very well. In fact, economic theories can predict how many people will ride a plane before it is even build. They can also predict the quantity of trade between countries if trade barriers are eliminated or lifted.
Economics is practically accurate in making predictions just like any natural science. This is not the case for astrology which is mostly used for games and fun.
For more than 30 years now, the field of economics has been transformed from leaning towards theories to being more empirical. Empirical economics has power to answer important questions in our daily lives. It requires researchers to analyze data and pay close attention to statistics. This is a serious field of study which cannot be compared to astrology.
Good economists do not use guesswork but data-driven projections. This is the way economists will be able to come up with great discoveries. Finally, there is need to educate the members of the public on the importance of economics.
