Когда ученые врут
Sep. 22nd, 2014 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timeletsWhen we think about science as a system for producing public goods and services it's useful to consider their information costs. That is, evaluating the quality and integrity of a scientific article, its true relationship to experiments and facts is expensive.
Consider a taxi service as an analogy. When you flag down a yellow cab on the street you want to be sure that the driver is qualified and the car is in good condition, etc. It would be prohibitively expensive for you at the moment of need to test the driver and inspect the car. In short, for a potential passenger on the street information costs are high. Therefore, the government steps in and reduces the costs by using a variety of certification programs. As a result, people use officially licensed cabs all the time.
Similarly, the science community uses various certification programs to vouch for the integrity of its members. Unfortunately, when the community cannot police itself (e.g. fake PhD degrees massively awarded in Russia), consumer information costs soar. When information costs are high, the public stops buying the good/service and its production plummets. Although the government can subsidize science, its actual use (utility) will go down anyway.
Thou shalt not lie!
Consider a taxi service as an analogy. When you flag down a yellow cab on the street you want to be sure that the driver is qualified and the car is in good condition, etc. It would be prohibitively expensive for you at the moment of need to test the driver and inspect the car. In short, for a potential passenger on the street information costs are high. Therefore, the government steps in and reduces the costs by using a variety of certification programs. As a result, people use officially licensed cabs all the time.
Similarly, the science community uses various certification programs to vouch for the integrity of its members. Unfortunately, when the community cannot police itself (e.g. fake PhD degrees massively awarded in Russia), consumer information costs soar. When information costs are high, the public stops buying the good/service and its production plummets. Although the government can subsidize science, its actual use (utility) will go down anyway.
Thou shalt not lie!
