Young AP: *Professor Barro, did you order the Desk Rejection?*
Judge Mankiw: You *don't* have to answer that question!
Professor Barro: I'll answer the question!
[to Young AP]
Professor Barro: You want answers?
Young AP: I think I'm entitled to.
Professor Barro: *You want answers?*
Young AP: *I want the truth!*
Professor Barro: *You can't handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Professor Barro: Son, we live in a world that has journals, and those journals have to be guarded by men with rejections. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Noahpinion? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for LRMs, and you curse the Referees. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That the LRM's rejection, while tragic, probably saved the journal's reputation. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves the journal's rank. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me at that desk, you need me at that desk. We use words like identification, external validity, exogenous variation. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very citations that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up an instrumental variable, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Young AP: Did you order the Desk Rejection?
Professor Barro: I did the job I...
Young AP: *Did you order the Desk Rejection?*
Professor Barro: YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!
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Economist on "Did you order the Desk Rejection?"
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