BackHow economists are implicitly biased
While most economists agree that they need to be objective, they are influenced by ideology and authority, suggests new research
PremiumMost economists consider themselves objective and unbiased but few actually are, suggests a new study. In the study, Mohsen Javdani and Ha-Joon Chang examine how ideology influences views held by 2,425 economists from 19 countries. They conduct an online experiment where participants were asked to evaluate statements on a range of topics including inequality, the role of government and the free market. Each statement was attributed randomly to a mainstream economist or a less-mainstream economist with a different ideology. In addition, a few statements did not have an attributed source.
While over 80% of the participants said that a statement should be evaluated for its content and not for its source, this did not translate into their evaluations. The authors find that participants were more likely to agree with a statement if it came from a mainstream source than from a non-mainstream or unattributed source.
Part of this is due to ideological bias where participants agree with a statement because it confirms their prior views. Another reason is authority bias where participants agree with a statement simply because the source is considered an authority figure in the profession.
Interestingly, female economists are 40% less ideologically biased than male economists but display similar levels of authority bias. While economists with backgrounds in cultural economics and economic sociology are less biased than those with backgrounds in macroeconomics and financial economics.
The authors conclude that these implicit biases can have significant implications on economic policy recommendations and economics training, which makes it critical for economists to recognize and address them.
Also read: Who Said or What Said? Estimating Ideological Bias in Views Among Economists
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