if you want to have true beliefs about how to improve the world, economics can provide a bunch more useful insights than other parts of the social sciences
Source?
EDIT: I’m getting downvoted for asking for a source on a controversial claim? Why? Why does the heterodox EA have to cite dozens of academic sources and still get more downvotes than someone just asserting an academically controversial (but orthodox within EA) claim without a citation or justification? Why does asking for one generate downvotes?
My null hypothesis is that any research field is not particularly useful until proven otherwise. I am certainly not claiming that all economics research is high quality, but I’ve seen some examples that seemed pretty legit to me. For example, RCTs on direct cash transfers seem pretty useful and relevant to EA goals. And I think tools like RCTs are a pretty powerful way to find true insights into complex questions.
I largely haven’t come across insights from other social sciences that seem useful for EA interests. I haven’t investigated this much, and I would be happily convinced otherwise, but a lot of the stuff I’ve seen doesn’t seem like it is tracking truth. You’re the one writing a post trying to convince people of the claim that there is useful content here. I didn’t see evidence of this in your post though I may have missed something. If you have some in mind I would be interested in seeing it.
(I didn’t downvote you, and don’t endorse people doing that)
Thanks for the comment, that seems like a strange null hypothesis to me but alright. My earlier aversion to commenting on the EA forum has borne out again, so I’m going to stop commenting now.
Source?
EDIT: I’m getting downvoted for asking for a source on a controversial claim? Why? Why does the heterodox EA have to cite dozens of academic sources and still get more downvotes than someone just asserting an academically controversial (but orthodox within EA) claim without a citation or justification? Why does asking for one generate downvotes?
My null hypothesis is that any research field is not particularly useful until proven otherwise. I am certainly not claiming that all economics research is high quality, but I’ve seen some examples that seemed pretty legit to me. For example, RCTs on direct cash transfers seem pretty useful and relevant to EA goals. And I think tools like RCTs are a pretty powerful way to find true insights into complex questions.
I largely haven’t come across insights from other social sciences that seem useful for EA interests. I haven’t investigated this much, and I would be happily convinced otherwise, but a lot of the stuff I’ve seen doesn’t seem like it is tracking truth. You’re the one writing a post trying to convince people of the claim that there is useful content here. I didn’t see evidence of this in your post though I may have missed something. If you have some in mind I would be interested in seeing it.
(I didn’t downvote you, and don’t endorse people doing that)
Thanks for the comment, that seems like a strange null hypothesis to me but alright. My earlier aversion to commenting on the EA forum has borne out again, so I’m going to stop commenting now.