Noah Smith, Columnist

Sorry, But Economics Isn't 'Astrology for Dudes'

The dismal science can explain lots of things with data and theory. Astrologers explain nothing.

How many Fed rates hikes in 2018?

Photographer: Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images
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Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse recently took to Twitter to comment on the relative merits of academic disciplines. He declared that hard sciences, humanities and even sports are superior to the social sciences. But economists were spared the worst of his scorn, as he declared the field superior to all other social sciences.

It’s unlikely that Sasse has much specific knowledge of the disciplines in question, and that the Republican senator’s disdain for social science comes mainly from the common allegation that sociology, anthropology and social psychology have a left-wing bias. His grudging compliment of economics probably comes from the stereotype of econ as a more rightward-leaning discipline.