ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by noting that it is widely agreed that economists disagree, but it is also acknowledged that they do so according to common commitments, and that economists take it as a given that the role of the economist extends to intervention in public discourse and public policy. It argues that in order to place themselves in a position to take responsibility as intervenors or policy contributors, economists must first reconsider what it means to be expert and what a social science is and can be. The report would have been differently framed had it been headed by climate scientists or social policy experts. Where policy is concerned, there is no discourse of economic deferment, no economics of silence. Perhaps the most peculiar, and thus uncommon, commonality is that economists take it as a given that the role of the economist extends to intervention in public discourse and public policy.
