It is often sadly remarked that the bad economists present their errors to the public better than the good economists present their truths. It is often complained that demagogues can be more plausible in putting forward economic nonsense from the platform than the honest men who try to show what is wrong with it. But the basic reason for this ought not to be mysterious. The reason is that the demagogues and bad economists are presenting half-truths. They are speaking only of the immediate effect of a proposed policy or its effect upon a single group.
Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson (1946), “The Lesson,” Chapter 1.
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Henry Hazlitt
One reply on “Henry Hazlitt”
I believe that the problem may be more usefully characterized: Economists who present theories that conform to the predispositions of their audiences are generally more persuasive than other economists; and bad economists present theories that conform to the predispositions of larger audiences.
Indeed, even within my own ideologic cluster, the very most popular economists sometimes make some utterly crackpot claims, because most of the audience is predisposed to believe those claims.