If it’s a choice between facts and the vibe, I’ll opt for the facts every time. You wouldn’t expect anything else from a ‘scorched earth’ economist, to use an adjective favoured by Jimbo, who, of course, is not an economist.

But if you are on the losing side of the argument, it must always be tempting to junk logic and empirical evidence and resort to a set of tricks that you hope just might work.