[sjg007]

You make a great example here. Many folks are not expert in economics or social scientists and they criticize them to no end with no actual understanding. Maybe that's the problem of the scientists/researchers not being able to communicate the statistics and real understanding of uncertainty... which is exactly what Michael Lewis discusses in the article. It's not just lay people, but even scientists in different domains, who should know better, will criticize fields outside their expertise often with no real understanding.

If you want to understand why Americans don't trust experts, look to weaponized disinformation campaigns started by the Soviets, continued on by Koch and big oil. The PBS Frontline special on Big Oil in illuminating. Many resources on the history of Soviet and Russian disinformation campaigns.

These things exploit our fear that politicians lie to us. And not wrongly because some do and that results in terrible things. But they also prevent us from making progress.

[Johanx64]

The crucial misunderstanding is that economics and social studies are considered "science" or "scientific".

And pretending that they are a big part of the problem.