It was all the more sobering for the young economist to find that during many months his main task consisted in reading the economic section of newspapers in order to compose summaries that went as newsletters to other organisational units which had the same newspapers on their desks. Later on, after having been observed attentively by superiors, more serious tasks were given to the young economist. The corporate planning unit requested economic data serving as exogenous variables in their divisional or regional planning exercises. The young economist was enthusiastic. He thought that now the moment had come to apply his macroeconomic and econometric forecasting skills. But again he was disappointed. Senior colleagues explained that forecasting had long been outsourced to independent forecasting institutes. What was required from the junior was simply to take these outside forecasts and fit them into the tables according to the requirements of the planners. He then found out why his professional skills were not in demand. The reason was not the greater efficiency and quality of outsourcing. The reason simply was that outsourcing made it easier for the company’s economics unit to avoid responsibility. The planning of corporate production was a heavy responsibility indeed. The exogenous economic variables affected the outcome of the planning process decisively. Erroneous economic data were likely to produce disaster, and for disaster nobody in the central staff of economics was prepared to accept the blame. Therefore, economic forecasting was outsourced. If disaster did strike, the external provider of the data would be blamed.

But one will have to bear the consequences of having selected the “pursuit of the unknowable”. BIS Review 62/2004  1  Looking at the subjects list according to which in the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) publications are classified, you get an idea of the scope of today’s economics. It ranges from A. General Economics and Teaching to Z. Other Special Topics with Z1 Cultural Economics as a last one-digit subclass. The total number of one-digit subclasses is well over 600. In fact, there are no subject limits for economists for applying their methods. This attracts many of the best minds. For success at a university, articles published in refereed journals are all-important. The well-known rule, not exclusive to economics, is: publish or perish! When applying for a university position, the applicant knows that the selection committee bases its choice on the list of publications submitted. Who decides what papers are to be accepted for publication? In refereed journals the selection of articles is largely delegated to anonymous referees. These are academic economists of good reputation. The editors of the journals apply the principle of peer review. Nevertheless, Bruno Frey (University of Zurich) recently attacked this system in an article - itself published in a refereed journal under the heading “Publishing as Prostitution”. He argues that in the current system authors might unduly trim their own original ideas in order to enhance their academic success.1 To research and to publish is one thing. But professors also have to teach.