Jeremy Spater

[Jeremy Spater @JeremySpater]

Mercantilism -- the idea that trade surpluses & deficits determine who is winning or losing from int'l trade -- is having its moment.
My article in Economics & Politics traces the mercantilist worldview and demonstrates its pervasiveness among the public:
https://t.co/r3Fyeol8su

[Jeremy Spater @JeremySpater]

Second, the principle of social science is: “We, the social scientists, know the Truth; our job is to explain why the masses fail to grasp it.” This is wrong. I’ll write later about a more democratic (and more scientific!) alternative.

[Jeremy Spater @JeremySpater]

My paper “Deficit Aversion: Mercantilist ideas and individual trade preferences” found its way into print this summer, in the journal Economics & Politics: https://t.co/aSuoy3UMNt

[Jeremy Spater @JeremySpater]

My paper is one of many to show that people have causal economic beliefs very different from what workhorse models would predict them to believe. So can we believe a model that assumes that everyone believes the model?