Political Memes

Economics is a science, at least in theory, but it's a science that's being practiced very badly.

The core issue is that pretty much the entire field has decided, collectively, that there is absolutely no requirement to test their assumptions against reality. Basically economists will build a model that reflects a vision of reality that seems to make sense to them, and then build a whole set of assertions supported by that model. I don't recall the origin of the quote, but it's been said that "Economists would study the price of milk by assuming an infinite number of frictionless spherical cows operating in an infinite vacuum."

When economists (most often ones who would describe themselves as progressive economists) actually do test the models against observable reality, most of them come crashing down. Good economic science instead says "What does reality tell us, and how can be we build models that explain it?", but right now good economic science is very much running against the mainstream.

There are good economists out there. The youtube channel Unlearning Economics is a fantastic starting point, as is this lecture series from McMaster University; https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzLUWMt2NZLRmKY_kEiLc-hvOcyOlgE4N. I also suggest looking into David Graebar, Cristobal Young, and Mark Blyth. The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight by Young and Austerity: The History of A Dangerous Idea by Blyth are both superbly informative and easy reads.