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Some Remarks on Economic Policy Advice

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  • Backhaus, Jürgen

Abstract

Once the oracle at Apollo's shrine in Delphi had been pronounced by one of the three holy priests, it had to be transformed into hexameters before it could be promulgated. The oracles until today are subject to interpretation. They always come to pass when interpreted with hindsight, but the person, who had requested an advice, often richly donating to the shrine, was all too frequently left clueless as to what to make of the advice. It is the same today with economists consulting on economic policy. Instead of hexameters, the advice has to be put into the form of formally consistent models. In this way, the pronouncements are always correct – they just cannot be wrong. But the policy maker is all too often left without a clue as to what to do.

Suggested Citation

  • Backhaus, Jürgen, 2011. "Some Remarks on Economic Policy Advice," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 107-113.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecas:v:8:y:2011:i:1:p:107-113
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeca.2011.01.005
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    Keywords

    A14; H10; Democracy; economic policy advice; incentive incompatibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General

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