Kinds of Advisers

Economists tend to infer people’s motives, goals, and objectives from what they do, the actions they take, rather than from what they say. In many cases nothing is said, but a reasonable guess about what people believe can be deduced from their observed behaviour. On that basis we might conclude that many governments believe that economic policy is unimportant or is a matter of common sense not calling for specialised knowledge or both. The evidence for this conclusion is the economic advisers they appoint.