First Greenspan, Now Ravitch

On October 23, 2008, Alan Greenspan testified before congress, as reported in the The NY Times article "Greenspan Concedes Error on Regulation". This gist of it: His view of the world, and the forces that shape and regulate it, was flawed. Seriously flawed. And in viewing the testimony one could see that this revelation shook him severely.

One might suppose that the left leaning liberals would have felt smug and the conservative right would search for reasons why the free market still "works". Pragmatists, however, would most likely hold that indeed the free market "works" it just doesn't work perfectly. This is the real world, not an academic experiment.

Today's NY Times reports on Dr. Diane Ravitch: 
"Once outspoken about the power of standardized testing, charter schools and free markets to improve schools, Dr. Ravitch is now caustically critical. She underwent an intellectual crisis, she says, discovering that these strategies, which she now calls faddish trends, were undermining public education. She resigned last year from the boards of two conservative research groups."

From the report it seems that Dr. Ravitch is not as shaken by her revision as Mr. Greenspan was. It is notable, however, that two influential people have significantly reevaluated their point of view based on new information. It may well be that these two folks, operating in different spheres, are not, at present, in a position to directly influence policy. And indeed, others who have a pecuniary interest in the previous philosophy may impeded change (as usual).

Still, I am hopeful. Progress is achieved when we try different things and observe the results, changing our actions (or not) based on what we have learned. The key point: let facts and results inform our decisions and experiment from that point.

From the film Duck Soup (1933):
Mrs. Teasdale:    Your Excellency, I thought you'd left!
Chicolini:            Oh no, I no leave.
Mrs. Teasdale:     But I saw you with my own eyes!
Chicolini:            Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?

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