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Does the AER have a hit squad?

In response to the dust up at the AER I received this from Harvey Dent (aka "Two-Face") via twitter (cc'd to media/blog economics types):

deserves praise. Only academic economist to voice opinion

My response:

Really? I guess I have nothing to lose.

As Nicholas Bourbaki says in his/their anonymous comment on the AER paper, there is a fear of retaliation from the "editors at AER and other members of their networks." See #4 from the paper:

Bourbaki

What in the world is going on? Is economics research such that all of the cloak and dagger is necessary? I can only guess that the answer may be yes. 

Updated with clarification: Another comment by the non-anonymous Brett Matsumoto at the BLS has been submitted to the AER. This comment considers only technical issues and not accusations of misconduct.

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  1. Tim Haab Avatar
    Tim Haab

    “I guess I have nothing to lose.”
    There are still those who believe they are not validated as an economist until they hit the AER–or one of the big journals. As a faculty member once said to me when I asked why he was obsessed with getting in the AER: “You already have your JPE.” a) My JPE was a comment, b) The goal of the JPE comment was not to validate myself, but rather make a correction in the hopes of furthering knowledge.
    Maybe that’s why you and I don’t care what we say here…we’re secure enough in whatever level of success we currently enjoy that chasing the elusive AER article has low net marginal value.
    Pissing off other ego-driven economists though–priceless.

    Reply
  2. John Whitehead Avatar
    John Whitehead

    tru dat

    Reply
  3. John Whitehead Avatar
    John Whitehead

    The opportunity cost of targeting a top 5 journal is quite high for those economists with only warning track power.

    Reply
  4. David Zetland Avatar
    David Zetland

    I’ll take ’em on! Permanent contract and no chance of publishing a water-related piece in AER-anything! ;)

    Reply

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