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Introduction
1. Econocracy
2. Economics as indoctrination
3. Beyond neoclassical economics
4. The struggle for the soul of economics
5. Rediscovering liberal education
6. Economics is for everyone
Index
Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins are founding members of the Post-Crash Economics Society at the University of Manchester
'Economics has become the organising principle, the reigning
ideology, and even the new religion of our time. And this body of
knowledge is controlled by a selective priesthood trained in a very
particular type of economics – that is, Neoclassical economics. In
this penetrating analysis, based on very sophisticated theoretical
reflections and highly original empirical work, the authors show
how the rule by this priesthood and its disciples is strangling our
economies and societies and how we can change this situation. It is
a damning indictment for the economics profession that it has taken
young people barely out of university to provide this analysis.
Utterly compelling and sobering.'
Ha-Joon Chang, Reader in Political Economy of Development at the
University of Cambridge and Author of Economics: The User's
Guide
'A rousing wake-up call to the economics profession to re-think its
mission in society, from a collective of dissident graduate
students. Their double argument is that the ‘econocracy’ of
economists and economic institutions which has taken charge of our
future is not fit for purpose, and, in any case, it contradicts the
idea of democratic control. So the problem has to be tackled at
both ends: creating a different kind of economics, and restoring
the accountability of the experts to the citizens. The huge nature
of the challenge does not daunt this enterprising group, whose
technically assured, well-argued, and informative book must be read
as a manifesto of what they hope will grow into a new social reform
movement.'
Lord Robert Skidelsky, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at
Warwick University and Fellow of the British Academy in History and
Economics
'If war is too important to be left to the generals, so is the
economy too important to be left to narrowly trained economists.
Yet, as this book shows, such economists are precisely what we are
getting from our leading universities. Given the role economists
play in our society, we need them to be much more than adepts in
manipulating equations based on unrealistic assumptions. This book
demonstrates just why that matters and offers thought-provoking
ideas on how to go about it.'
Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator at
the Financial Times
'An interesting and highly pertinent book.'
Noam Chomsky
'Economics, as practiced in university economics departments,
regurgitated by policy makers, and summarised in the mainstream
media, has become a form of propaganda. This superb book explains
how: dangerous ideology is hidden inside a mathematical wrapper;
controversial policies are presented as ‘proven’ by the models of
economic ‘science’. This book is essential reading for anyone who
wants to know about the con - that includes everyone concerned with
the future of democracy.'
Jonathan Aldred, Author of The Sceptical Economist
'The econocracy explains, supported by excellent research, how one
branch of economics has captured the academy and excluded the
public from debate about how the economy is organised, leaving this
branch almost the only source of policy advice. It is written by
British members of Rethinking Economics, the international
organisation of students and recent graduates dissatisfied with
their curriculum. They have produced a work of high quality and
national importance. Read this book.'
Victoria Chick, Economist and Co-Founder of the Post Keynesian
Economics Study Group
'This book is for the many students who want to study economics
because they want to help society solve its problems: a critical
introduction to contemporary economics, written by a new, post-2008
generation of economists. Aspiring economists will need to read
this book early, in time to protect themselves from indoctrination
into a neoclassical economics firmly associated with an economistic
political-ideological worldview. To understand the real world, and
not just what standard economics calls ‘the economy’, future
economists must learn to see through and escape from a conceptual
construction destined to replace democracy with “econocracy”,
turning government over to a publicly unaccountable technocratic
elite. There is no better vaccination against the economistic
disease than this immensely readable book.'
Wolfgang Streeck, Emeritus Director at the Max Planck Institute for
the Study of Societies and Author of Buying Time: The Delayed
Crisis of Democratic Capitalism
'The economics profession has failed disastrously in recent
decades, first by failing to warn of the dangers of a bloated and
poorly regulated financial sector and then through an obsession
with mathematically refined, but practically useless, modelling
exercises. Yet neither the confidence with which economists make
pronouncements about ‘the economy’, nor the way in which economics
is taught in universities has undergone any significant change.
This book addresses these questions with a call for an economics
addressed to citizens and a pluralist approach to economics
education. It should be read not only by those seeking to
understand how policies driven by the alleged needs of ‘the
economy’ have failed, but also by economists who want to understand
why their pronouncements are increasingly regarded with distrust
and disdain.'
John Quiggin, Australian Laureate Fellow in Economics at the
University of Queensland
'In this challenging new book, Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach
Ward-Perkins argue, not against expertise as such, but in favour of
a new kind of economic expert: one who is better able to engage
both with real problems and with ‘economic citizens’. As befits
members of the international economics student movement Rethinking
Economics, they set out an agenda for improved education of
economics students, but also of economic citizens. Their arguments
are backed up by new evidence of the current situation for
economics students as well as by historical analysis of the
discipline. The book itself is an exemplar of the kind of expertise
they advocate, being problem-oriented and accessible to a wide
audience, and drawing on careful informed argument. The book should
be required reading for anyone concerned about the future of
economics.'
Sheila Dow, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of
Stirling
'According to Sir Nicholas Macpherson, outgoing Permanent Secretary
of the UK Treasury, economists were guilty of a ‘monumental
collective intellectual error’ in failing to predict, or prevent
the Great Financial Crisis of 2007–9 (FT 15 April 2016). The
profession's repeated failures contrasts with the achievements of
e.g. aerospace engineers and scientists, that have on the whole
managed to protect society from aircraft failure. For the sake of
our future economic security, it is vital to open up the economics
profession to both new, but also old, untried economic theories and
policies. That is why this book is so welcome. It will play a vital
part in expanding pluralism in economics in our universities, and
hopefully regenerate the profession from within.'
Ann Pettifor, Economist and Director of Policy Research in
Macroeconomics (PRIME)
'Is economics too important to be left to the economists? The
authors marshal a powerful case against economics as it often is,
and set out a positive vision of economics as it might be, a public
interest economics which enables citizens to understand the economy
better and participate more fully in the decisions which affect all
our futures. An important and timely book.'
Andrew Gamble, Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge
and Joint Editor of New Political Economy and the Political
Quarterly
'Economics is a subject of importance to all citizens, yet many
economists have been unwilling to engage in the public debate made
essential by the financial crisis and its consequences. This book
is a provocative but welcome contribution to the democratic
conversation that has to take place about the role of economics in
public policy, and the need for the subject to be accessible to
everyone. Many economists will not agree with all of the book's
analysis but they certainly should not ignore it.'
Diane Coyle, Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester's
Institute for Political and Economic Governance and Managing
Director of Enlightenment Economics
'It is a scandal that the enormously important subject of economics
is usually taught in British universities around a rigid, narrow,
orthodox syllabus which excludes counter-cultural thinking. The
2008 financial crisis was a wake-up call for the profession, which
has been dismally slow to respond. This book is badly needed,
looking at academic economics afresh: clear, well-written,
well-researched, non-doctrinaire. It makes the case for
‘pluralistic’ economics to address such questions as financial
instability and climate change. Every economist and citizen should
get a copy.'
Vince Cable, Former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and
Skills
'Historians, one day, will study the mesmeric capacity of economic
doctrine to override the public’s faculty of rational judgement in
favour of an unquestioning faith in the experts, in the face of the
overwhelming evidence that they have got absolutely everything
completely wrong. This research will engender the same sense of
disbelief, I am convinced, that we feel today for the high
mediaeval dogma that the sun must go around the earth because God
ordained it so. This book will then be recognised as a turning
point.
It is an eloquent, quietly passionate, but above all knowledgeable
statement of the simple fact that the emperor is naked, rounded off
by a remarkably clear prescription for doing without tailors. Do
not miss it.'
Alan Freeman, Visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University
and Research Fellow of Queensland University of Technology,
Australia
'The econocracy offers an antidote to a tragic state of affairs in
social science. Over the last century, economics has increasingly
abandoned its roots as a rich science of human action in order to
become an esoteric discipline with little relevance to the real
world. The global financial crisis of 2008 revealed this deeper
crisis in the economics profession, which is especially evident in
economics teaching. Yet while understanding economics has never
been more important, in some ways the barriers to economics
education have never been higher. This book provides students with
an accessible discussion of the problems that face economics
teaching, and the perils of allowing economics to be transformed
from a vital source of knowledge about human society into an
obscure, technocratic field reserved for a select few. It not only
calls for a reassessment of contemporary economics education, but
also for a fresh look at the relationship between economists and
the public. It is thus a valuable first step toward encouraging a
more realistic and relevant economics. Students and professors
alike will find much to discuss and debate here.'
Matthew McCaffrey, Lecturer in Enterprise at The University of
Manchester and Recipient of the 2010 Lawrence W. Fertig Prize in
Austrian Economics
'This superbly written and scholarly work makes a strong case for
wresting control of economic and political dialogue back from the
pseudo-profession of academic economists and returning it to the
body politic. Its authors are student economists who, writing after
the financial crisis that mainstream economists didn't see coming,
have approached their topic with refreshing scepticism, and a
wisdom far beyond their years. This is an excellent read that I
strongly recommend.'
Steve Keen, Head of the School Of Economics, History & Politics at
Kingston University, London
'Since the financial crisis of 2007–8, there has been an
extraordinary amount of soul-searching by the economics profession.
Many macroeconomists admit that their view of the world was flawed,
that ignoring the financial sector was a fatal error and that the
profession has become over-reliant on certain types of mathematical
model. But too often, their solutions amount to tweaking the
existing paradigm in the hopes that this will somehow make it work.
In this book, an enterprising group of students expose the deep
flaws in mainstream economic theory that have brought us to this
pass. They show how the teaching of economics in universities
reinforces the existing paradigm, discouraging challenge and
innovation. And they propose a new approach to the teaching and
learning of economics which would encourage independence of thought
and be accessible to a wider group of people. From the current
chaos and confusion, a new economic paradigm will eventually
emerge. The young people now studying economics, or about to do so,
will determine the shape of this new paradigm. Their studies need
to equip them to develop the economics of the future, rather than
reinforcing the ideas of the past. This book should be required
reading for teachers and students of economics, and for anyone
contemplating a career in economic policymaking.'
Frances Coppola, finance, banking and economics commentator
'The economics profession is in crisis, as crucial flaws in its
core ideas have been exposed by the financial crisis of 2008, and
by the deep economic malaise which has followed. While most
economists remain in denial about the need for change, a global
movement among graduate students has taken up the challenge of
making economics relevant again for the real world.
Importantly, these students aren't just complaining, but actively
developing better ideas, collaborating widely with scientists in
other fields, and engaging with politicians, business leaders and
ordinary citizens to make economics less esoteric and ideological,
and more practically useful in building a better society. The
econocracy is their call to arms. Beautifully written and packed
with wisdom, it is a book for anyone who cares about the future of
our societies, beginning, I hope, with professional economists
themselves. This may be the most important economics book of the
decade.'
Mark Buchanan, physicist, former editor of Nature and New Scientist
and author of Forecast: What Physics, Meteorology, and the Natural
Sciences Can Teach Us about Economics
‘This is an impressive book of admirable scope and ambition.’
Andrew Mearman, Leeds University Business School, International
Review of Economics Education
‘The high priests of economics still hold power, but they no longer
have legitimacy. In proving so resistant to serious reform, they
have sent the message to a sceptical public that they are
unreformable. Which makes The Econocracy a case study for the
question we should all be asking since the crash: how, after all
that, have the elites – in Westminster, in the City, in economics –
stayed in charge?’
The Guardian Book of the Day 09/02/2017
‘Like Walt Whitman, The Econocracy contains multitudes.’
Martin Sandbu, The Financial Times, 24/02/2017
‘This slim book manages to pack in a concise and well-researched
critique of modern economics and how it is taught in universities
as well as the broader issue of public engagement with economics as
part of the democratic process. Written in the wake of the Brexit
referendum but before the surprising success of Donald Trump, this
book is a timely warning of what can happen when economists,
policymakers and the public can’t find common ground.’
Maxine Montaigne, LSE Review of books
‘…an interesting volume for anyone who wants to rethink their
approach to the economical language.’
Market Plus, the Swiss Financial Channel – April 2017
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