No More Talking Back to the Teacher

It looks like the level of vitriol on his blog has gotten too much for Harvard economics professor and former CEA chairman Greg Mankiw, and he's decided enough is enough:

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.