Comments Policy

October 2007 Update: The rules below proved too costly to enforce once the readership of the blog expanded. As a result, comments are no longer enabled. Feel free to email me any comments you might have.

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A prominent economist emails me some comments on a previous post, with the following preface:

I do not feel like responding on the site. It feels like shouting in a crowded room.

This got me to rethink my comments policy. In the past, I have deleted only a very few comments that readers have posted. But I think it may be time to turn down the volume of the shouting in order to raise the level of the discussion.

Here is my new policy: Anyone is free to disagree with me, or with other commenters, as long as it is done politely. Comments that take a belligerent approach to economic debate are at risk of being deleted.

Please approach this blog with the civility you would bring to a college seminar. Don't post anything here that you wouldn't say to a fellow seminar participant face to face.

Update: One more rule, which perhaps goes without saying: Any post that aims to promote specific commercial products--or, God forbid, competing textbooks!--will be promptly deleted as well.