Brad DeLong — Thoughts on Robert Skidelsky’s Manifesto for the Reform of the Anglo-Saxon Economics Curriculum

Where I disagree is in the presentation of neoclassical economics as feasible since the assumptions are not practically achievable in a modern society. The neoclassical ideal is an ideology designed to promote a political theory called classical liberalism. It was tried and ended in Dickensian times in England. The fundamental problem is asymmetrical power that arises institutionally. It's just a waste of students' time to spend more than a short time on it as of historical interest.

The only place it exists today is in the mind's of neoclassical economists and there is no change that those assumptions will ever be met in the real world of modern life. if it ever existed in its pure form anywhere at any time. There is no historical record of it as far as I am aware. It is comparable to teaching the stimulus-response model as the basic paradigm of psychology when it is now an intellectual artifact only of historical interest.

Neoclassical economics is like classical physics without friction, or ocean navigation without wind and currents. Teaching static closed system economics as if government is an imperfection that might be eliminated, or without examining asymmetries of power, information, etc., is just an exercise in confusion. Of course, student can be introduced to gadgets and simple models before working on greater complexity.

But that is generally not possible in Econ 101 owing to scope, and Econ 101 is as far as most people that take an economics course get unless they major or minor in econ. However, even here it is generally recognized that the actual issues are not presented until grad school.

As result they leave the introductory classes with a thorough misunderstanding of economic realities and policy implications. Or they sit there comparing what is being taught with their outside reading and experience, thinking that this is bullshit and becoming upset that their time and tuition is being wasted on ideological propaganda.

WCEG — The Equitablog
Thoughts on Robert Skidelsky’s Manifesto for the Reform of the Anglo-Saxon Economics Curriculum
Brad DeLong