… at the American Economic Association. Also on lack of disclosure, conflict of interest – the stuff Stanford University’s You CAN Have It All! medical staff is dealing with at the moment.
The New York Times recently noted the AEA’s amoral ways.
You can argue that things like ethics codes don’t make no nevermind one way or the other; but somehow their absence, when every other professional organization has something along these lines, feels like a statement in itself.
Asked about this, UD‘s acquaintance James Galbraith (economist; brother of Peter) says:
You can’t have an ethical code unless ethical people design it. No sign of that sensibility at the AEA. I think what should happen is the formation of small societies with codes joined by subscription. Then people could distinguish between economists who avoid or disclose conflicts, and those who do not.