How are GMU economists different from normal economists?  Many ways, but here’s one that’s struck me lately:

Them: Impossibly high intellectual standards for a handful of high-status research questions – and embarrassingly low intellectual standards for all other questions.

Us: Reasonably high intellectual standards for everything we say and think.

Random application: Many elite economists scorn OLS econometrics, but see no shame in publicly defending politicians who couldn’t explain the difference between a mean and a median.