While I would like to attach the blog post from the NY Times ("Economix") which clicks to John Cochrane's response to Krugman's article on "Freshwater/Saltwater" economists and how they all got it wrong, alas, the "attachability" feature on my blog site is on strike! So, go to "Economix", 9/11/09, "Freshwater to Saltwater" and click on Cochrane's full text.
Cochrane has responded to Krugman's article as a representative of his colleagues at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business but does not wish to name them for fear of what, reprisals (see his footnote on page 1)? Seriously!
While I have not re-read Krugman's original article (and, I continue to feel it is the finest article he's ever written and a true education for all of us on where economists went wrong), he suggests that the Chicago School economists are going to move from the periphery to the center of economic thought to try to sort all this out. I'm not sure why Cochrane (and his unnamed colleagues) takes offense at this since Krugman is ceding "leadership" to them, but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with egos and taking one's self seriously.
Cochrane's implication that Krugman is saying that everything that has been done in the field of economics since the 1960s is "...a complete waste of time", sounds about right. Evidently Cochrane feels a certain insecurity in that thought. Message to Cochrane: Keynes was right. Deal with it. Also, learn how to spell "Keynesian". If you can't spell it right, you certainly can't write about it.
Krugman's original article and Cochrane's response to it are as good as any course in economics - maybe better. They certainly are making the "dismal science" more interesting.
Parenthetically, I think Cochrane has something against cartoons - he attacks the cartoons in Krugman's article three times! This is troubling. It's almost as bad as his "...you should think Bernie Madoff is a hero" analogy.
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