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<p>Speaking of the Marginal Revolution blog - it happens to be run by economists Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrog at George Mason University…which is a publicly funded university. Indeed, most of the structure of modern-day economics, both as a distinct body of knowledge and the accompanying profession and career ladder populated by economists, is a public good supported by taxpayer funding, whether in the form of public universities and government agencies that employ economists, of taxpayer research grants to support economics training and research projects, or the collection of economic data that provides the raw materials of economic research. </p>
<p>I therefore continue to find it ironic to the extreme when economics - ore more specifically, certain interpretations of economics - is then invoked as a talking point with which to denigrate and minimize the crucial role of government. Without the active participation of government, economics as the academic discipline that we know it, wouldn’t even exist at all.</p>