Robert Skidelsky Introduces Philip Pilkington’s ‘The Reformation in Economics’

In this lucid, extremely lively book Philip Pilkington offers a radical critique of economics. He does not hesitate to pulverise the great panjandrums of the discipline and he reserves special scorn for the Nobel Laureateocracy, which closes the profession to heterodoxy. His starting point is that economics is a ‘contested subject firmly grounded in the humanities and should be taught as such’.

Pilkington’s attempt to recast economics is underpinned by his understanding of the fundamental uncertainty which humans face in making their choices, the respect they are owed as they struggle to make the best they can of the situations in which they find themselves, and the need for modesty by economists as they themselves try to make sense of the human predicament.