Economics and good intentions

Good intentions are best left to political parties, governments and religious establishments

Here’s a problem: If economics is a science, then intentions, good or bad, must not be a part of it. If, on the other hand, and at the very least, good intentions simply must underlie it, it cannot be a science. Indeed, it ceases to be economics even. 

This, to my mind, is the main problem with randomised controlled trials (RCT) in development economics — though not in the other branches of the subject like, say, mechanism design. In fact, I have never understood what development economics is other than being an atonement for a bad conscience.

As a result of it,