Distilling frenzy from academic scribbling: How economics influences politicians

Some economists misunderstand the way their work is used in policymaking. They claim to be providing dispassionate predictions and parameter estimates to politicians, but often—sometimes unwittingly—the economists' main contribution is to construe a complex issue as a problem (for example, a market imperfection) capable of solution. And the economists' solutions depend as much on their conception of the public good as on their technical algorithms. As a result, for good or ill, economics is as influential for its implicit ethical theory as for its predictions. Ignorance of that fact makes some social scientists less influential with policymakers than they might otherwise be.