Economy
Related: About this forumWhy Economics Failed, by Krugman
Last edited Fri May 2, 2014, 12:02 PM - Edit history (1)
On Wednesday, I wrapped up the class Ive been teaching all semester: The Great Recession: Causes and Consequences. (Slides for the lectures are available via my blog.) And while teaching the course was fun, I found myself turning at the end to an agonizing question: Why, at the moment it was most needed and could have done the most good, did economics fail?
I dont mean that economics was useless to policy makers. On the contrary, the discipline has had a lot to offer. While its true that few economists saw the crisis coming mainly, Id argue, because few realized how fragile our deregulated financial system had become, and how vulnerable debt-burdened families were to a plunge in housing prices the clean little secret of recent years is that, since the fall of Lehman Brothers, basic textbook macroeconomics has performed very well.
But policy makers and politicians have ignored both the textbooks and the lessons of history. And the result has been a vast economic and human catastrophe, with trillions of dollars of productive potential squandered and millions of families placed in dire straits for no good reason. . .
So why didnt we use the economic knowledge we had?
One answer is that most people find the logic of policy in a depressed economy counterintuitive. Instead, what resonates with the public are misleading analogies with the finances of an individual family, which is why Mr. Obama began echoing Mr. Boehner.
And even supposedly well-informed people balk at the notion that simple lack of demand can wreak so much havoc. Surely, they insist, we must have deep structural problems, like a work force that lacks the right skills; that sounds serious and wise, even though all the evidence says that its completely untrue.
Meanwhile, powerful political factions find that bad economic analysis serves their objectives. Most obviously, people whose real goal is dismantling the social safety net have found promoting deficit panic an effective way to push their agenda. And such people have been aided and abetted by what Ive come to think of as the trahison des nerds the willingness of some economists to come up with analyses that tell powerful people what they want to hear, whether its that slashing government spending is actually expansionary, because of confidence, or that government debt somehow has dire effects on economic growth even if interest rates stay low.
Whatever the reasons basic economics got tossed aside, the result has been tragic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/opinion/krugman-why-economics-failed.html?hp&rref=opinion
Lodestar
(2,388 posts)I'm guessing things don't work because what we have here is anything but capitalism in its original intent.
There are, essentially, no rules and the 'bad kids' have taken over the classroom. This is what happens to
"systems" that have broken down. Not just from corruption but I think that we're moving beyond capitalism
or any "ism" to something new and this is just the first step that will eventually lead to collapse of this dying system.
It's not a healthy viable expression of our changing values and need for more holistic, sustainable healthy models.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)You've summed up in two words WHY the marketplaces, no matter what, where, how big, how small, need consistent and fair REGULATION!
Warpy
(111,254 posts)that the government, including economics advisors, has become window dressing for the masses, incapable of making sweeping changes no matter how desperate the country is for them. It's the reason we got the Heritage Foundation health care reform instead of single payer or even a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age.
No one was willing to tell truth to power, and once the Obama administration had been saddled with Geithner and Summers, there were few people to tell it.
.. when Obama saddled himself with Geithner and Summers?
I guess maybe he had no choice in the matter but I kind of doubt it.
Warpy
(111,254 posts)as the only ones the Wall St. Dems and the goofball GOP would approve.
sendero
(28,552 posts)... "it was all he could do, his hands were tied by others".
Not really a sterling legacy all told.
eridani
(51,907 posts)Channeling inner grammar Nazi tonight.
elleng
(130,886 posts)I guess it was late when I posted it! Did edit the title.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)But Mr. Obama is allied with Pete Peterson hence the deficit fear and catfood commission.
pscot
(21,024 posts)In a nutshell.