ermmm um .... look a pony. It is very hard to do economic policy experiments on a national level that are scientific.
i.e. Did the soviet experiment fail because central planning does not work or because they were in a cold war? Did America win because of the Market or because of a superior geographic/historical position? At the laboratory level playing econ games with students and cross-culturally with different ethnic groups the predictions of neo-classical economics don't seem to pan out. I would say econ is a troubling discipline.
Right. But from what I see, politicians don't even look at small, potentially-unscalable studies. They just support whatever fits their preconceived notions. I was wondering if I just wasn't looking at the right places. I know a few years ago Italy had a technocracy for like two weeks a year.