[QuesnayJr]

I am an economist, and I have no idea what you're talking about.

[nmfisher]

I think parent is saying there's no economic incentive to save starving kids in Africa.

[astrange]

Note that Nigerian-Americans are one of the highest earning and most successful immigrant groups in America, and I'm sure some more countries will follow. So there probably is one if you're selfish, because their kids can be your doctor in a few decades.

[QuesnayJr]

But it doesn't make sense to blame economists for this. Economists take economic development in Africa seriously. The 2019 econ Nobel was for research in how to fight poverty in Africa.

[ajb]

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

[renewiltord]

It is also difficult to get a man to understand something when you are not familiar enough with the subject. I suspect that is the more common failure mode.

[SantalBlush]

This HN cliché notwithstanding, economists actually do understand a lot more about the study of economics.

[imtringued]

It's just the general strawman. People only see economists when they fail so they think all economists fail even though it is only a subset.