It'd be different if he was doing uncontroversial (read: boring) blogging or maybe just normal political blogging, but he isn't. He's doing the whole "modern economics is dumb and wrong and everyone sucks and f**k Ed Prescott" shtick. That might fly with internet people but probably not with anyone in charge of giving you a job offer.
So is Noah Smith's blogging destroying his job market chances?
-
It will be interesting to see what happens.
I think Noah Smith is a pretty smart guy, and I even agree with some of his more controversial views. (At this point in his career, Ed Prescott is indeed a senile idiot. There is overwhelming evidence for this; don't make me list it all.)
The problem is that his blog's condemnation of macroeconomics is often too broad, and you don't get the sense he has the grasp of the literature you'd expect from a successful 6th-year job market candidate, particularly one who feels the need to pontificate about economics online. He does offer some good commentary on papers, but it feels more like "I'm a smart guy who read this paper a few days ago and have a few decent observations to make about it" rather than "I've spent the last five years painstakingly learning more about this topic and after all that effort, here's why I think these two papers are crucial".
-
it feels more like "I'm a smart guy who read this paper a few days ago and have a few decent observations to make about it" rather than "I've spent the last five years painstakingly learning more about this topic and after all that effort, here's why I think these two papers are crucial".
Huh -- I would have said it's more like "if you're reading a blog, I'll assume you didn't go to grad school and boil this down to the kernel and put it in layman's terms."
His job market outcome will be determined by the quality of his research. I haven't read his paper, but glancing at the abstract it's the sort of macro-finance stuff the market has bottomless demand for.
If being loud and opinionated affected job market outcomes, all growth theorists would be sleeping under bridges.
-
I think that the blog will hurt him.
(a) His political views will annoy some people.
(b) He sounds like he could be a nasty person- Not sure you want that in your dept.
(c) Most importantly, his views show a lack of intellectual maturity - and not much respect for the evidence people have accumulated. (Typical of physicists btw.)
(d) Macro people will be really annoyed.Of course if he had a JPE and an Econometrica, things would be different. But he's not there.
-
The guys at George Mason will trip over each other to hire this guy.
---------------------Huh? GM is anti-anyone to the left of Reagan. Noah is a hard left libtard.
=======================
Are the WUSTL prelims notoriously hard or something?
----------------------------SW is referring to several of Noah's blog posts that reflect a serious lack of understanding about macro. For instance Noah believes there is such a thing as the saltwater/freshwater divide.
-
So do his professors at Michigan!
______________________________________
SW is referring to several of Noah's blog posts that reflect a serious lack of understanding about macro. For instance Noah believes there is such a thing as the saltwater/freshwater divide. -
So do his professors at Michigan!
______________________________________
SW is referring to several of Noah's blog posts that reflect a serious lack of understanding about macro. For instance Noah believes there is such a thing as the saltwater/freshwater divide.Hi noah