Don’t just do anything

Economists like to complain that politicians keep asking them about things they can’t really enlighten: where does it say docs At the end of the year? Will the inflation rate be 10.1 or 10.2 percent? With such forecasts, the economy moves into a climate of uncertain terrain, and he must predict the amount of rainfall for an April day in Amram weeks in advance.

On the contrary, there are areas where there is very reliable economic knowledge, but practically no one listens. These areas include, for example, foreign trade policy. There is no scientific doubt that a national subsidy program that promotes only domestic producers and excludes all others destroys prosperity. And science has a lot to say about the right response to such a project.