Mark Harries on economists: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

Mark Harries, head of Ravenscroft Investment Management UK, takes a closer look at the role forecasts should play when making investment decisions.

Ever since the largely unpredicted crisis of 2008-09, economist-bashing has been an affable and socially acceptable hobby. After all, if these so-called experts can miss the deepest crisis in decades, how can we trust them to call the next?  In recent weeks, anti-economist sentiments have reached fever pitch. The press has heaped criticism on the Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the Paris-based OECD after the forecasted drop in consumer spending and business investment failed to manifest post-referendum. Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's (BoE) chief economist, admitted ...