The Ravings of Niall Ferguson, the Real World and the Needless Suffering of Tens of Millions

[applegrove]

The Ravings of Niall Ferguson, the Real World and the Needless Suffering of Tens of Millions

by Dean Baker at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/the-ravings-of-niall-ferg_b_4081817.html

"SNIP.................................


For this reason I was struck to see that my occasional Niall Ferguson corrections got me on the list of Paul Krugman's "... like-minded bloggers who play a sinister game of tag with him, endorsing his attacks and adding vitriol of their own. I would like to name and shame in this context Dean Baker, Josh Barro, Brad DeLong, Matthew O'Brien, Noah Smith, Matthew Yglesias and Justin Wolfers."

This was in the concluding segment of a three part tirade from Ferguson directed at Krugman. Krugman is of course highly visible, and has been especially effective in calling attention to some of Ferguson's more absurd claims.

I have great respect for Paul Krugman and consider him a friend, but Ferguson's list of "like-minded" bloggers seems more than a bit bizarre. There is certainly overlap in the views of this group of bloggers, but not all that much. For example, I believe that Josh Barro considers himself a libertarian. The only attribute that we really have in common is that we took offense at some of the ridiculous pronouncements from Ferguson and used our blogs to correct them.

But it is hardly worth wasting time and killing electrons in a tit for tat with Ferguson. What matters is the underlying issues of economic policy. These affect the lives of billions of people. The absurdities pushed by Ferguson and like-minded people in positions of power, in direct defiance of massive evidence to the contrary, have ruined millions of lives and cost the world more than $10 trillion in lost output since the crisis began.


................................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Well said. And those who make history can change the world. Ferguson seems

to think the same applies to economics...that just applying a different narrative can make an other successful economic outcome. That's not true. There are verifiable laws in economics.

[Plays In Traffic]

2. It is a shame....

that Ferguson is a grown adult and Harvard professor. One would expect this sort of behavior from a self-aggrandizing petulant child throwing a temper tantrum since they were proven wrong. Instead of admitting to their mistakes and growing as a person, they turn around and play the victim.

It seems that Niall Ferguson doesn't care that about his legacy. Instead of being known as a historical scholar at a preeminent university, he will be known as "that British guy who trolled good economists, lost, and threw a tempter tantrum."

[gopiscrap]

3. Welcome to DU