Paul Krugman's NY Times Magazine article "How Did Economists Get it So Wrong?" (see this earlier post) has generated quite a volume of reaction, usefully rounded up by Mark Thoma. Representing the "freshwater" school, John Cochrane is not happy. He asks "How Did Paul Krugman Get it So Wrong [.doc] ?" and part of his answer is:
So what is Krugman up to? Why become a denier, a skeptic, an apologist for 70 year old ideas, replete with well-known logical fallacies, a pariah? Why publish an essentially personal attack on an ever-growing enemies list that now includes practically every professional economist? Why publish an incoherent vision for the future of economics?Yikes. On his blog, a semi-response from Krugman.
The only explanation that makes sense to me is that Krugman isn’t trying to be an economist, he is trying to be a partisan, political opinion writer. This is not an insult. I read George Will, Charles Krauthnammer and Frank Rich with equal pleasure even when I disagree with them. Krugman wants to be Rush Limbaugh of the Left.
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