Am I correct in detecting a *hint* of facetiousness in your reference to age and income as more trustworthy?
I remember reading that asking what year a person was born is more likely to yield an accurate answer than asking age - math aptitude really is not what it could (should) be, is it... As to income, I would imagine that definitional issues have an impact (do you mean BEA or Census income?) As far as the general thread goes, I could see the case for lumping perceptions and intentions into a similar ethereal realm where the cost of taking a hard look at one's own perceptions and intentions is not worth the value of giving better survey answers (even ignoring the strategic value of lying to respondents in many cases). Following along the line of the how would you rate ___ in the US today, what about __ in your neighborhood - type questions and the finding that people think their own neighborhood is better than the average (the lake woebegone effect) - if nothing else it explains why they haven't moved... Salutations, Brian Moore ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alex Tabarrok" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 10:35 AM Subject: Re: Only Economists Tell the Truth? > I think Robin exaggerates the extent to which social science would be > easier if we could just ask people why they do things. To be sure, > there is a tradition in economics that survey results about intentions > and ideas (as opposed to age and income!) are not to be trusted. I agree > this tradition is overdone and am happy to see work such as Bewley's on > why firms hold wages fixed etc. Much of economics, however, concerns > effects which are no part of anyone's intention - hence Adam Smith's > metaphor of the *invisible* hand. For macro effects of micro behavior > there is no point asking people what they intend. No firm intends to > push price to marginal cost, no firm intends to use inputs in just such > a way that social value of those resources in alternative uses is > minimized, no investor intends to impart his knowledge into prices - but > this is what happens. > > Alex > -- > Dr. Alexander Tabarrok > Vice President and Director of Research > The Independent Institute > 100 Swan Way > Oakland, CA, 94621-1428 > Tel. 510-632-1366, FAX: 510-568-6040 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
