Research, Science, and Trump

It is no secret that the current President of the United States of America exhibits disdain for research. His well documented attitude towards research on climate change belies highlighted disdain for each of research, and the research process.

As a person who has spent most of his adult life as a researcher, clearly I am not enamored with disdain for research, more especially when disdain spews from persons who have considerable power over resources that can be applied to facilitation of good research.

Clearly, disdain for research is wrong. The cars we drive, the houses we live in, the computers on which we write, the tractors that make it possible for less than 5% of the population to produce enough food for everyone, the trips to the moon, the weapons of mass destruction, the internet etc. all are outcomes of good research. So also are research in disciplines such as Finance and Economics that enable well functioning of markets for capital.

In absence of capital markets that facilitate mortgages and car notes, exactly what proportion of Americans would have capacity for living the good life?

It was in part research in Finance (Carhart 1997), which showed the averagely…