Economist on why AI will find econ harder to crack than math: most econ papers are wrong
paulnovosad · x · 2026-10-10
- Economist Paul Novosad argues it's harder for AI to beat economics than math because most published math papers are correct while most econ papers are wrong.
- Reading only the written record misleads you about what's wrong: e.g., a generation of diff-in-diff studies' biggest issues aren't the standard errors the literature debates.
- He still notes math is more verifiable, while what counts as evidence in econ is culturally contingent — but warns against betting against future models.
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