My latest DeSmogBlog post is a case study in what happens when we have a pair of dueling experts on a complicated topic--in this case, a dispute between the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the Heritage Foundation. They are battling over this PERI study, which found that a pair of EPA regulations would create jobs. I pose the question:
Is this a dispute in which outside observers have any choice other than to throw up their hands, unsure who to believe? Most of us aren’t economists, after all, so what other option is available to us? How can we possibly say who’s right and who’s wrong, without taking a few years to develop some expertise? Moreover, from a journalistic perspective, is there any way to cover this dispute other than in a "he said, she said, we're clueless" fashion?
My answer is "yes," and ...
