It's Not About Villains, It's About Incentives for Politicians
Tyler Cowen glosses my critique of his New York Times article:
Marginal Revolution: Assorted links: Brad DeLong on the fiscal illusion; it's about villains.
I think he is wrong: it's not about villains, but it is about incentives. Politicians who behave badly--who argue for and support destructive policies--should feel their bad behavior in their chances of reelection. If politicians don't have good incentives, they won't behave well.
And if economists don't teach their students which policies are destructive and which politicians support such policies, then their chances of reelection will not be affected by their bad behavior.
