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Marita Sullivan's avatar

This is fascinating, illustrating how we really need to have the best and brightest in our government for thoughtful analysis of policy making.

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Roger Miller's avatar

I wonder if the Critique is a rational response to policies that espouse an ideal result but fail to give credence to realistic human behavior in their genesis. Sounds as though it is to me. The cobra farm situation is typical of knee jerk policy decision making not well thought through and typical of too many governance hierarchies giving rise to analysis paralysis. A difficult cycle to break in elected political bureaucracies where CYA is elevated to a fine art form. Particularly applicable to the concept of the "Invisible Hand."

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Titanic Survivor's avatar

Is the Lucas Critique exactly the same as, or merely similar to the law of unintended consequences?

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Nominal News's avatar

I think the way it is portrayed, is that it is a subset of the law of unintended consequences. The original phrasing (which over time great to encompass more ideas) focused on statistical patterns. These statistical patterns may only exist under a particular economic policy. Changing the economic policy can disrupt the statistical pattern.

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