The Quarterly Journal of Economics

I am surprised at the direction taken by economics these days. Obama is asking behavioural economists policy advice, development is only studied through randomized experiments, and happiness is becoming more important than GDP! If you look at what was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in the last years you might indeed be surprised.

According to its website, “The Quarterly Journal of Economics is the oldest professional journal of economics in the English language. Edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics, it covers all aspects of the field—from the journal's traditional emphasis on microtheory, to both empirical and theoretical macroeconomics. QJE is invaluable to professional and academic economists and students around the world”.

While there are still articles about inflation and exchange rates, most are really different from the public’s perception of economics. For example, they look at how Preschool Television Viewing affects Adolescent Test Scores, at how Fox News affects Voting, at how Large are the Effects from Changes in Family Environment (by studying Korean American Adoptees), at how hard it is to obtain a Driver's License in India, at how beliefs are formed, at the effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcome, at how Friendships Form, at The Political Economy of Hatred , at how to explain sexual behaviour and at the Gender Differences in Mate Selection in a Speed Dating Experiment.

I wonder if it’s the same thing in the leading journal of the profession, the American Economic Review. Probably, with articles like "Fatal Attraction: Salience, Naïveté, and Sophistication in Experimental “Hide-and-Seek” Games"!