The following is an excerpt from a bill proposed to become law in the State of New Mexico. (It did not succeed.) I wonder if the same sort of thing should be enacted to apply to the testimony of economists? "A BILL REGULATING EXPERT TESTIMONY IN COURTS. BILL____. AN ACT RELATING TO EXPERT TESTIMONY IN COURTS; REGULATING THE TESTIMONY OF CRYPTOLOGISTS AND COMPUTER EXPERTS IN THE HEARINGS OF CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS IN COURTS; BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO; When a cryptologist or computer expert testifies during a criminal defendant's penalty hearing, the cryptologist or computer expert shall wear a cone-shaped hat no less than two feet in height for the duration of the hearing. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted with stars, moons and lightning bolts. Additionally, the cryptologist or computer expert shall be required to wear a white beard no less than eighteen inches in length for the duration of the hearing. The cryptologist or computer expert shall punctuate crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing at the air with a wand no less than one foot in length. Whenever a cryptologist or computer expert provides expert testimony regarding the defendant's methods, the bailiff of the court shall dim the lights of the court room and shall administer two strikes to a Chinese gong." __________________________________________________________________ Out the buffer, | PGP encrypted e-mail welcome! Through the com port, | Finger for Public Key. Over the POTS line, | Also available on a key server near you. Into the NT Box, | Up the fractional T1, | Key ID: 0x457AA6BD Onto the backbone, | Keyprint: 99 C7 17 3B 32 08 3F 17 Nothin' but Net. | F4 A9 42 A9 2F BC 39 B1 ------------------------------------------------------------------