whooshMar 23, 2024

"Nobel Laureate economist Angus Deaton has delivered a ferocious rebuke to his own profession, saying economists have failed to understand that #capitalism is about #power."

"when efficiency comes with upward redistribution — frequently though not inevitably — our recommendations become little more than a license for plunder”

https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/03/12/nobel-laureate-economist-angus-deaton-capitalism-power/

"“We have largely stopped thinking about #ethics and about what constitutes human well-being."

Nobel laureate economist savages his own profession as clueless and unethical

Nobel Laureate economist Angus Deaton has delivered a ferocious rebuke to his own profession, saying economists have failed to understand that capitalism is about power.

Crikey
Show threadJuggling With Eggs

@whoosh

‘It speaks volumes about how sheltered many mainstream academic economists really are.’

Academic economists unwillingness to acknowledge that capitalism is about power and that there is an ethical dimension to all economic decisions was made abundantly clear to me during the financial crash of 07/08. I worked in a prestigious university economics department. Virtual silence as they witnessed what their students had gone out into the world and done.

Mar 23, 2024 at 11:27pmWeb
Show threadJuggling With EggsMar 23, 2024

@JugglingWithEggs @whoosh

Only one professor would admit to me his shame at what was allowed to unfold. I listened to the department’s meetings and read their working papers astounded at their collective silence and lack of reflection. During this period I remember going out at lunchtime and witnessing people queuing down the street and crying at the thought of losing their life savings in Northern Rock bank. The remote ivory tower academic stereotype had never fitted better.