In which of the following situations would you lose more faith in the ability of an economist?
(Scenario A) If it is revealed he is unaware of the recent econometric innovations in heteroskedastic estimators (when used with panel data, specifically).
(Scenario B) If it is revealed he doesn't understand the causes of communism in Russia or the consequence of socialism in China.
Then ask yourself, is your answer consistent with how graduate students are trained?
This is posed as an interesting question, and not a condemnation of my colleagues who teach graduate students.
