Prof. Vernon Smith had an interview at EconTalk a while ago. He talked about his Nobel-winning work on experimental economics. His experience of sending his revolutionary work to JPE is very interesting to me. Back in the 60's, JPE was already famous for its stance on free market because it was, and still is, housed in the University of Chicago. Prof. Smith thought that his experimental economics could lend support to the invisible hand as empiric evidence. So he sent the paper to JPE. To his dismay, it got rejected!
It turned out that, "If you believe in markets you don't necessarily need evidence." Of course, it eventually got published by JPE when Harry Johnson took over as the editor. It is always good to know where people stand ideologically, but don't try to reason with them when you know they are firm believers of something.
(Picture: George Mason University)
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