If mainstream economists had thought and behaved differently after 1980, then arguably the world would not be in its current state of disarray, and much of the social and environmental dislocation that we have witnessed over that time-span would not have occurred. In a nutshell, these economists uncritically accepted as true the false analyses, promises and prescriptions of neoliberal ideology. The destructive outcomes of their attempts to implement those prescriptions were greatly enhanced by their profound ignorance of the operational dynamics of finance, banking and credit money creation. To this day they continue to hold to barter-based models of economic activity, to the extent that money, credit and banking are missing from their considerations.
Mainstreamers possess several major blind spots....I would not call them "blind spots," but rather incorrect assumptions and false operational understandings that vitiate their work and make their policy recommendations not merely wrong-headed but actually dangerous.
erablogdotcom
The biggest intellectual scandal of our time
John Hermanm
What a succinct, nicely written piece. Quite astonishing that this status quo exists. Why is this so? Are special interests that powerful? Or does this reflect the mediocrity of mainstream economist professionals? Nice to see intellectuals like Steve Keen, Antal Fekete and others challenging the system.
ReplyDeleteNot only economics, but most academic pursuits...Criminologists have the same issues Maybe it's a problem with the universities.
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