Tag Archives: economics profession

The good (ideal) and the bad (real) of conventional economics. The policy consequences are essentially two-fold. The first is in not recognizing the disjunction between the ideal (formal) and the real (empirical), which violates the basic requirement of a scientific approach and makes the undertaking an excursion in philosophy rather than science, even though it is dressed put to look like science. The consequence is policy formulation that doesn't lead to the predicted results,...

Steve Keen writes satire.RTWhy economics is too important to be left to the (academic) economistsSteve Keen | Professor and Head Of School Of Economics, History & Politics, Kingston University, London

Experience has shown that assuming a framework based on methodological individualism, microfoundations, and rationality based on utility leading to general equilibrium through the so-called "invisible hand" of market competition generating spontaneous natural order is not fruitful for explaining the macro scale of economic behavior and its results in terms of a general theory.Assuming that scaled up micro analysis explains macro effects risks the fallacy of composition, at the very least....

Longish and detained, but worth a read if you are following this debate.Lars P. Syll’s BlogDani Rodrik’s Ten CommandmentsLars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

I stand with Paul Feyerabend in taking an "anarchistic" approach to the philosophy of science. There is no "scientific method" that is the final arbiter of doing science. Or, as Mao famously said but did not follow through one, "Let a hundred flowers bloom." The cream will rise to the top. Science is what scientists do, and free inquiry requires that they be free to pursue their curiosity. Exploration of options and alternatives is basic to evolutionary theory. Those that don't adapt to...

Important.  Marshall Steinbaum catches us up on what's happened since the publication of Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century three years ago. Actually, lots.  But the economics profession has largely ignored it since it involves distribution and the economics profession doesn't consider distribution irrelevant.Boston ReviewWhy Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder?Marshall Steinbaum | Fellow and Research Director at the Roosevelt Institute

Some views on distinguishing critics from cranks and quacks.ChrisAuld18 signs you’re reading bad criticism of economics Chris Auld Unlearning Economics 18 Signs Economists Haven’t the Foggiest Information Transfer Economics18 signs you are not having a productive conversation about economicsJason Smith Dani Rodrik's WeblogThe Economics Debate, again and again Dani Rodrik

They made this mistake by claiming free trade had no downsides. I wouldn't say it is just free trade.  This is what happens when ideology trumps scientific rigor, and scientific credibility is used to push a political agenda. Economists appear to fall into this trap often enough to have destroyed their public credibility. It's another form off fake news.  As Noah Smith points out, they know better, but do it anyway. Now they and we, are reaping the whirlwind of rabid populism as the...

History lesson. Trading one dogmatism for another?Michael Roberts BlogThe economics of Luther or Munzer?Michael Roberts

Public non-market production makes up a quarter to a half or more of all economic activity among advanced democratic nation-states. Yet the public economy’s ability to function on behalf of the populace as a whole is seriously imperiled in many western democracies, and particularly jeopardized in the United States. The surging influence of mainstream economics has been a prime factor in the degradation of the public domain over the last several decades – a phenomenon that James Galbraith...