Professor Larry White of University of Missouri – St. Louis tears into that boo-hooey NYT article in an excellent post at the Division of Labour blog.

Here’s a taste:

So what is Cohen’s anecdotal evidence that criticism of the free market renders one an ‘apostate’ (Blinder’s term)? (1) Alan Blinder is sore about the criticism he has received over his claim that outsourcing and trade may result in a loss of 30 to 40 million American jobs. (2) David Card is sore about the criticism he has received (and pointed questions his students have gotten on the job market) over his much-debated finding (with Alan Kreuger) that a hike in the minimum wage didn¹t cost jobs in the New Jersey fast-food industry (described fawningly by Cohen as ³groundbreaking research on the effect of the minimum wage). Sorry, soreheads, but that¹s no evidence that free-market ideology rules the roost. Everybody¹s claims get criticized. Ask any free-market economist if he or she receives criticism.