
Falsehoods programmers believe about economics - jarcane
http://exple.tive.org/blarg/2016/09/22/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-economics/
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carsongross
Even leaving in the leftist trolling on the list, I know more programmers who
would question many of those items than I know economists who would.

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helthanatos
And it's just a list with no explanation...

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justratsinacoat
Well, this should prove to be an unpopular submission!

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all2well
I find the claim about there being no rational actors a bit odd. If that's the
case, then how do economies work at all? At some level, most people must be
able to act in their own interest to some degree.

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carsongross
It boils down to complexity: Humans are designed to deal with an impossibly
complex world. We have shortcuts that have developed to do so, called
emotions, biases, gut feelings, instincts and so on. It is easy enough to
manipulate these shortcuts, making a rational person act in a way most people
would regard as irrational. This is called marketing, propaganda, gas-lighting
or The Nobel Lie, depending on context.

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midgetjones
[https://github.com/kdeldycke/awesome-
falsehood](https://github.com/kdeldycke/awesome-falsehood) :)

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helthanatos
Falsehoods that are taught in econ 101: Keynesian economics, debt is good, and
debt drives the economy.

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hellogoodbyeeee
You can always tell someone is subscribing to quack economic theories whenever
they use the term "Keynesian Economics" You'll never hear someone with actual
training in economics use that term (outside of a history of economics lesson)

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helthanatos
I'm not sure what you mean.

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hellogoodbyeeee
The only people that use the term "Keynesian Economics" are people who learned
economics from blog articles and don't have any idea what they are talking
about.

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helthanatos
Or out of a book and in college... A community college, grant it, but a
college nonetheless.

