That “economists know nothing” is an exaggeration. As always, we should remember that the expert presented to us by the main stream media is the one they SELECTED. The selection process of the nightly news, newspapers, and news magazines is the problem.
The author mentioned free trade and globalization. NAFTA had a lot of people needlessly arguing the merit, or lack of merit, of free trade. The people arguing bought into the lie that NAFTA was about free trade. Well, it’s in the name: North American Free Trade Agreement. But the name was a lie. The agreement was not a free trade agreement. As Milton Friedman said, a free trade agreement can be written in a sentence. NAFTA was more than a thousand pages long. Inspired by President Trump, I say “NAFTA was fake.”
My opinion is that computer models of the economy are not very good. Computer models are merely tools. Rather than genuflect to “models,” I suggest listening to the analyst of your choice. He may use a model, but again, it is merely a tool. To put it differently, having a screwdriver does not make you an electrician. However all electricians use screwdrivers.
In the mid 1980s the press was going on about the earth running out of resources. It was the Global Warming of the time. Anyone with two courses in economics knew enough to reject all that blather. However the MSM did not advance any economists who challenged their message of future shortages and the need for socialism.
This current Covid fiasco emphasizes the limitations of 'experts,' especially those based in academia. It's not limited to economics, or medicine.
Life would be much simpler if we could outsource our thinking to 'experts.' In fact there's a lot of social pressure...herd pressure, if you will...to do just that.
Outsource judgment to anyone else, regardless of 'expertise,' and you're asking to be swindled. Human nature makes this so.