← Search

Journal of Economic Literature Vol. 58 No. 2 2020

Sins of Omission and the Practice of Economics

George A. Akerlof

Georgetown University

open access

Abstract

This paper advances the proposition that economics, as a discipline, gives rewards that favor the “hard” and disfavor the “soft.” Such bias leads economic research to ignore important topics and problems that are difficult to approach in a “hard” way—thereby resulting in “sins of omission.” This paper argues for reexamination of current institutions for publication and promotion in economics—as it also argues for greatly increased tolerance in norms for publication and promotion as one way of alleviating narrow methodological biases.

DOI
10.1257/jel.20191573
Volume
58
Issue
2
Pages
405-418
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

Cite