Increasingly, economics is seen as an impractical science. For some academics, forecasting is an intellectual exercise, and rewards flow from publishing big ideas. The result is often a one-dimensional or ideological worldview. Some American and European intellectuals hint that Islamic culture is too backward to promote rapid growth. Some people on the extreme right believe every government action is by definition bad. Liberals often trace strong growth to democratic institutions, an explanation that can’t account for many things, including the long boom in Asia from 1980 to 2010, when most
...more
