Noted development economist William Easterly has
written a timely and important piece warning about the dangers of pseudo-analysis:
“One of the
greatest insights of economics is that individual incentives work while group
rewards and punishments don’t. Collective guilt doesn't work to change anyone's
behavior. In the end, collective guilt, fashioned from bogus analysis and
delight in stereotypes, is mere slander. It's a formula for constant antagonism
and it's poisoning American politics.”