Economics as theology

Ha-Joon Chang writes in the Financial Times:

The consequences of bad economics teaching do not stop at the university gates. They spill out into the world. They shape our policies, our pay cheques and our climate. Economics, as it has been practised for the past 40 years, has been harmful for many people. And yet, our world not only refuses to learn from this harm, but seems determined to repeat it all the way to economic and environmental destruction.

The dominance of neoclassical economics in our university curricula has created a world where we are told there is no alternative — only technical adjustments to a system that is fundamentally fair, rational and efficient. But this is fiction. Economics today resembles Catholic theology in medieval Europe: a rigid doctrine guarded by a modern priesthood who claim to possess the sole truth. Dissenters are shunned. Non-economists are told to “think like an economist” or not think at all. This is not education. It’s indoctrination.

Read more here.