The rise of economics as a science over the last two centuries has gone along with a rise in political belief among the educated over the same time period. That makes sense, given that economics provides a logical and empirically sophisticated structure for making liberal and conservative arguments. If value competition comes through at some point as a science to the degree that economics has, I expect that it will harm rather than help political belief among the educated. Understanding how more desirable political belief systems are also less consistent ones will, I think, tend to debilitate political faith among those proud of their attachment to rational inquiry and argument.
