Bizarre. Gene
On Jan 12, 2015, at 8:33 PM, Charles Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-07/economics-stars-swing-left > > THIS MAN BEARS NO RESEMBLANCE TO MILTON FRIEDMAN. > > PHOTOGRAPHER: JEROME FAVRE/BLOOMBERG > Facebook > Twitter > LinkedIn > Google+ > ECONOMICS > > Economics Stars Swing Left > > 283 JAN 7, 2015 9:00 AM EST > By Noah Smith > > A lot of people see economics as a “conservative science” that makes > up unrealistic theories in order to push a free-market agenda. I don’t > know if that was ever true -- maybe in the 1970s? -- but if so, those > days are long gone. > > At the latest American Economic Association meeting -- the big annual > economist convention, which ended Monday -- some people turned out to > protest against what they claim is too much mathematical formalism in > economics. In an act of supreme irony, their main target was Carmen > Reinhart, a Harvard economist whose most famous work was a book about > the history of financial crises -- a famous example of modern econ > that isn’t mathematical. > > Why did the protesters go after Reinhart? Because she’s in favor of > cutting government debt. What the protesters want has nothing to do > with methodology -- they want economics to lean more to the left. > > But if the protesters bothered to look around, they would see that > their wish has been coming true for decades. Over the past > quarter-century, economics has been shifting from singing the praises > of free markets. Instead, it has moved toward a greater focus on > inequality, human welfare and the ways that markets break down. > > In academia, the shift has come partly through the introduction of new > tools, and models that reveal the shortcomings of unfettered > capitalism. Game theory shows how competition can lead to waste, and > models of asymmetric information also show how markets can fail. > Decision theory, learning theory and behavioral economics have poked > holes in the old assumptions of perfect rationality. Even in > macroeconomics, all the focus is on incomplete and imperfectly > functioning markets, as Karthik Athreya explains in his recent book, > “Big Ideas in Macroeconomics.” > > The move away from pure free-marketeerism has been helped by a flood > of new data. Economics has become much more empirical, and that has > made it much harder to wave away the possibility of market > inefficiencies. > > But academic economists themselves aren’t very ideological in the > first place. Where the shift from right to left has really been more > pronounced isn't in the ivory tower, but in the public sphere. > > Back in the 1970s, the public face of economics was Milton Friedman. A > consummate public intellectual, Friedman would travel around the > country giving lectures about the power of free markets and the > virtues of capitalism. Just search YouTube and you can easily > seehighlight reels of Friedman smacking down socialists and idealistic > leftist youths. He inspired a generation of bright young conservatives > to go into economics. And before Friedman, there was Friedrich Hayek, > whose tirade against Keynesian government intervention is still > revered by many on the right. > > Look around now. Where is the Milton Friedman of the 2010s?According > to a recent post by George Mason University economist and blogger > Tyler Cowen, the modern Milton Friedman is…Paul Krugman. Friedman's > “Free to Choose” has been replaced by Krugman's “The Conscience of a > Liberal.” > > Krugman isn't alone. Cowen’s list of the five most influential > economists also includes Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey > Sachs and Amartya Sen. Piketty, of course, exploded on the national > scene last year with a book warning about inequality, and his ideas > were apparently all the rage at this year’s AEA meeting. Stiglitz, who > helped invent the theory of asymmetric information, travels the > country talking about how markets are flawed. Sachs campaigns in favor > of foreign aid to poor countries and Sen has spent his life trying to > inject a human element into the cold equations of econ. > > On the right side of the spectrum, what popular economists can match > the appeal of Krugman, Piketty and the rest? The only candidate is > Greg Mankiw of Harvard, who has become known as America’s economics > teacher through his authorship of the most popular introductory > college textbook. Mankiw is a rock-ribbed conservative, arguing > tirelessly for lower taxes on the rich. But in terms of popular > influence, he can’t match the heavy hitters on the left. Other > right-leaning economists such as Robert Barro, John Cochrane, Martin > Feldstein and John Taylor pen occasional op-eds in the Wall Street > Journal, but none of them has written a book or blog whose popularity > or influence matches that of Krugman or Piketty. > > It’s worth asking: Why has economics shifted to the left? Maybe it’s > because the country itself, and its problems, have shifted. In the > 1970s, when conservatism and Friedman became the face of economics, we > faced high tax rates, heavy regulation, high inflation and powerful > unions. But in 2015, we confront rising inequality, economic > insecurity, and the aftermath of a financial crisis and a long, deep > recession. > > Maybe a country simply gets the economics it needs. > > In any case, if you think of economics as a bastion of conservatism > and free-market dogma, it’s time to take another look. The winds have > changed. > > To contact the author on this story: > Noah Smith at [email protected] > > To contact the editor on this story: > James Greiff at [email protected] > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
