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About 30% of modern economics is dubious studies that demonstrate that things which hammer profits are Bad For The Little Guy.

See also: hiking the minimum wage (possibly the most obvious example of academic corruption), rent controls, taxing the rich, etc.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the primary ones are 1) economists also respond to incentives and those think tank jobs pay really well and 2) prestige in the industry is also a commodity - a commodity which can be bought and sold. The level to which money talks in this industry is reflected by the wages - always higher than all other humanities.

As an example the freakonomics guys popularity are to popular economics what k pop is to music: a slick, highly refined, marketed product from a superbly well oiled marketing machine.

ecshafer | parent | next
You're disagreement with the outcomes of studies, does not mean there is widespread corruption. Rent controls, are just obviously awful things, and the data supports this. You create a lottery system, and disincentivize capital creating more supply causing a supply constraint raising prices in the long term. Minimum Wage being set to $X means prices must raise to allow that increased cost, or they will cut the position. A job a business would be willing to pay $5 an hour for gets cut when the minimum wage is $15 an hour, and just have 1 person do the work of 3. Many grocery store jobs that people used to be able to get at 13 or 14 have disappeared with the higher minimum wage for example. Taxing the rich lowers the velocity of money, disincentivizes capital to search for more profit seeking enterprises.
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marcosdumay | parent | next
Economics is a noisy subject where you would expect some studies to get plain incorrect results, and lots of them to be incapable of measuring their object. Even by no fault of economists at all.

That said, your 3 examples are very well studied, and rent controls are completely different from taxing the rich and hiking the minimum wage.

trio8453 | parent | next
My point is that we should be able to distinguish between the studies that are dubious and the studies that are solid but go against out assumptions. And if our assumptions are that that economists are just protecting corporations, we'll end up rejecting claims that might be true, and end up with policies that sound like they protect the little guy but are actually harmful.
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nec4b | parent | next
Can you share your research, because a lot of what you say goes against common sense and empirical data we have available. You seem to be very adamant that you are right, but with nothing but your word for it.
eru | parent | next
Let's hike the minimum wage to one million USD an hour, then!
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senordevnyc | parent
Taxing the rich seems like an example where you’re obviously correct.

I’m more skeptical of the minimum wage one, I think the details there matter a lot, and raising the minimum wage too much too fast can indeed be worse for just about everyone.

But rent control? Really?

It’s also interesting to me how a certain segment of the political persuasion simply cannot resist the allure of price controls, and no amount of data or historical experience seems to convince them that it’s generally a bad idea.

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