The nature of economic truth
Re-reading an old David Beckworth post , I was reminded of that ancient question: is economics a science? On the content of the post, I have no idea if the United States is an optimal currency area. Or the eurozone. But a deeper question is: why ask the question? If this kind of speculation was taking place in a discipline like physics, it would be ignored - if there is no way to test it, there's no point talking about it. But "the US is an OCA" is not a testable proposition. Therefore, is there no value in proposing it? Well, economists don't seem to think so - these things are discussed endlessly, and some of them even get peer reviewed and published. Economic "truth" (or economic arguments), even when not meeting the standard of science, can achieve two things. The first is their value as engineering. Sometimes, with the physics proved to scientific standard, the task is to apply it in a practical design. Nobody can prove that this design is t...