Bill Mitchell – Radical change is needed and mainstream economics will not be part of the solution

I wrote about what I am terming a ‘poly crisis’ in this recent blog post – The global poly crisis is the culmination of the absurdity of neoliberalism (July 18, 2022). I am working on material for my next book to follow up – Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (Pluto Books, September 2017). The German word ‘Zeitenwende’ means turning point. A fork in the road. It carries with it, from one interpretation, a recognition that the path that has been traversed to date is not the path that should be followed in the future. Something has to give. Whether Albert Einstein actually said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” is an interesting literary issue but the essence of the quote (correctly attributed to him or not) is sound. The idea of a ‘poly crisis’ is that big shifts in thinking and behaviour are required. We simply cannot continue to act in the same way as before whether it be on an individual level (us making our own choices) or at a societal level. The organisation of economic activity, our patterns of consumption and conduct of economic policy must all change – radically – for the planet to survive. Tinkering around the edges will be insufficient. Identifying a ‘poly crisis’ is tantamount to declaring the neoliberal experiment has failed dramatically and taken us all to the brink. It cannot form a basis for the future. But there is massive resistance to change and in Australia in the last week we have seen that in spades....

The underlying reason for problems affecting the world, and there are many, is lack of systems awareness. Markets are supposed to overcome the inherent uncertainty affecting human decision making, but this is a questionable assumption, if not a discredited one. A new approach is needed and apparently needs to be managed. The question is whether humans are capable of doing this in a way that meets the challenges, If not, disaster impends. There are no clear solutions on the table and it is questionable whether concerted action on them would even be possible in the current geopolitical situation. But best effort is a moral obligation, at the very least necessitated by consequentialism.

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Radical change is needed and mainstream economics will not be part of the solution
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia