When You Say Austrians Have a "Brain Worm," You're Biased

Noah Smith is a Bloomberg View columnist and an emerging voice in left-of-center economics. If you’re not familiar with him, imagine the second coming of Paul Krugman. Indeed, Noah is known for his criticism of free-marketers in general, and Republicans in particular.

Now, that’s not to say Smith is biased. In fact, he even wrote an article entitled “Check Your Economics Bias: Striving for objectivity is the right approach.”

In the piece Smith notes that there’s a “pernicious meme going around in economics…that social science is an inherently ideological enterprise.” Moreover, he objects to the idea that economics is an inherently ideological exercise, and urges us embrace that holy grail of anointed intellectuals—objectivity.

Specifically, he warns that if economists allow “their values to color their work, the public will trust them less, and they will eventually be ignored.” This is a curious concern, especially given the widespread popularity of openly ideological economic commentary (think “Conscience of a Liberal”).

Nevertheless, Smith believes that “mainstream economists usually try to maintain objectivity and eschew politics” and that they “do a pretty good job” of it.

A key question, then: does Smith take his own advice? Does he “eschew politics” and avoid ideological bias? An overview of his work suggests otherwise.

For example, if you appreciate Austrian economists such as Hayek, you might have a “brain worm”—at least according to Smith. Clearly his equivocation of Austrian economists with 9/11 Truthers speaks volumes about his open-mindedness and “objectivity”.

Of course, a core component of objectivity is neutrality. So, what does Smith make of the opposite end of the economic spectrum? Does he hold socialists in equal ideological contempt?

It appears not.

In a recent article, Smith warned “it would be a big mistake to write off socialism…Governments in many countries have been more assertive about spreading the wealth around—and the results have been good.” He even argued that channeling wealth down should be chalked up as a “victory of sorts for socialism.”

Going more mainstream, Smith also takes issue with garden-variety Republicans. In fact, he summarily dismissed the entire GOP due to the simple fact that the “Republican reserve of economic ideas is down to things that so many people…don’t really want.”

In surveying Smith's articles, it appears that Austrians have “brain worms,” and that Republican ideas are bad, but socialism is…good?

Objectively speaking, there’s a pattern here. It’s called bias.