TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Saint-Paul, Gilles
        TI  - Economic Science and Political Influence
        PY  - 2012/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 7120
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp7120
        AB  - When policymakers and private agents use models, the economists who design the model have an incentive to alter it in order to influence outcomes in a fashion consistent with their own preferences. I discuss some consequences of the existence of such ideological bias. In particular, I analyze the role of measurement infrastructures such as national statistical institutes, the extent to which intellectual competition between different schools of thought may lead to polarization of views over some parameters and at the same time to consensus over other parameters, and finally how the attempt to preserve influence can lead to degenerative research programs.
        KW  - degenerative research programs
KW  - intellectual competition
KW  - autocoherent models
KW  - polarization
KW  - self-confirming equilibria
KW  - macroeconomic modelling
KW  - ideology
KW  - identification
        ER  -