Brad DeLong — Economic Policy: Saturday Twentieth Century Economic History Weblogging

Interesting assessment of economic history leading to present-day challenges, which Brad argues, require government involvement in society and the economy in order to bring balance among disparate forces and prevent conflict from developing. Apt quote from Keynes as a bonus.

I have a somewhat darker view than Brad projects, however, based on institutional bias toward capital owing to the construction of neoclassical "orthodox" economics and neoliberal politics. I don't think it is through ignorance or increasing complexity that we are were we are, but rather through conscious and intention pursuit of self interest by the elite members of society acting through institutional rules they put in place.

Grasping Reality with Both Invisible Hands
Economic Policy: Saturday Twentieth Century Economic History Weblogging

J. Bradford DeLong | Professor of Economics, UCAL Berkeley