Страшно, страшније, најстрашније #conflict-of-interest #economics #АЕА

АЕА (Савез економиста САД) донео је нови етички кодекс по којем свако ко објављује у водећих седам научних часописа ове асоцијације мора да наведе све изворе финансирања и све „значајне“ везе са групама и појединцима на које истраживање може имати финансијски, идеолошки или политички утицај. „Значајан“ значи да финансијска подршка у претходне три године како аутору тако и најближим члановима породице не сме да пређе 10 хиљада долара!

Зар овај кодекс не значи и формално признање да је економски академски круг дефинитивно корумпиран или да бар постоји велика вероватноћа да је то заиста тако?

Јесте ли гледали „Inside Job„?

„A leading group of academic economists has adopted conflict-of-interest rules in response to criticism that the profession not only failed to predict the 2007-2008 financial crisis but may actually have helped create it.  The new policy stops well short of the broader ethical guidelines demanded by some in the field.

Many economists serve as consultants to companies, governments and other groups outside of their formal academic work. Critics both inside and outside the profession have argued those relationships—often lucrative and sometimes undisclosed—may have influenced economists’ work, leading them first to miss signs of the impending crisis and then to recommend policy prescriptions that served their clients’ interests, at the expense of the economy as a whole …

Under the policy, which will be enacted over the course of the next year, authors submitting papers to academic journals must disclose to the journal’s editors all sources of financing for the research and all „significant“ financial relationships with groups or individuals with a „financial, ideological or political stake“ in the research. The policy defines „significant“ as financial support to an author and immediate family members totaling at least $10,000 in the past three years. The journals will then make public what their editors deem „relevant potential conflicts of interest.“

Officially, the policy only applies to the seven journals published by the AEA, but other academic publications are likely to follow suit. The policy also calls on economists to apply the same principles in press interviews, government testimony and other non-academic work“.

Веза (WSJ)