Testability and the Methodology of Positive Economics

Friedman also made an influential contribution to economic methodology in arguing that an economic theory should be tested by its predictive accuracy alone, without regard to the realism or unrealism of its assumptions (Friedman 1953). The argument is questionable because, owing to the difficulty of assessing such consequences (reliable experiments concerning economic behavior are very difficult to conduct), economists have tended to rely heavily—certainly Friedman did—on assumptions, often assumptions based on priors rooted in ideology, personality, or other subjective factors.

Richard A. Posner, "Why Is There No Milton Friedman Today?", Econ Journal Watch 10: 210-213 (p. 210)

Putting the Iraq War in Perspective

Consider how bizarre the history of the 1940s would seem if America had attacked China in retaliation for Pearl Harbor.

Ron Unz, "Our American Pravda"

Wisdom for the Coming Years

[D]ata is not knowledge and big data is not wisdom.

Alex Tabarrok, "The Battle over Junk DNA"

Failure Can Be Informative

[A]t least some drug trials begin with seemingly sensible expectations that a drug will work; those expectations are often wrong. Usually that is the end of the matter. But, to me, an important question may well be “Why didn’t the drug work as expected?”

Lee Sechrest (quoted here)