Economic orthodoxy: where vision goes to die
Econ4’s Gerald Friedman laments the blindness of orthodox economics:
When I conducted an assessment of Senator Bernie Sanders’ economic proposals and found that they could produce robust growth, the negative reaction among powerful liberal economists was swift and vehement. How much, I wondered, did this reflect personal disappointment being rationalized into a political economy of despair? Professional economists tend to embrace an economic theory that government can do little more than fuss around the edges. From that stance, what do they have to offer ordinary people for whom the economy is not working? Not a whole lot.
Read Friedman’s full piece here.
PS: The debate on the Sanders proposals between Friedman and his critics is recapped here and here.
Learning from history
A new animation sums up the differences between the “Golden Age”of 1948-71 and the “Great Moderation” of 1985-2007:
Source: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/05/myth-great-moderation.html.
Confidence Men & Fairytales
In “Capitalism Unmasked,” Econ4′s joint project with AlterNet, Paul Davidson tours a fairytale world:
Conservative economists and their friends like to trot out a mythical being whenever they want to make arguments that favor an economy built for the wealthy at the expense of ordinary people. This imaginary being, known as the Confidence Fairy, is only happy when capitalists are given free rein to do whatever they want even if it brings us to the brink of a global economic meltdown.
Read his essay here.
Wanted: Worldly Philosophers
Economists should see the big picture – and ask the big questions. But in a recent oped piece, Roger Backhouse and Bradley Bateman argue that the profession has been so preoccupied with the trees that it lost sight of the forest:
It’s become commonplace to criticize the ‘Occupy’ movement for failing to offer an alternative vision. But the thousands of activists in the streets of New York and London aren’t the only ones lacking perspective: economists, to whom we might expect to turn for such vision, have long since given up thinking in terms of economic systems — and we are all the worse for it.
Read their piece here.
