Signs that the stranglehold of mainstream, [tag]autistic economics[/tag] on the profession may be weakening, according to an Adbuster article, entitled “Thought Control in Economics”. Excerpts:
“David Colander, who is rare among economists for being accepted in both alternative and mainstream camps, suggests that much of the perpetuation of [tag]mainstream economics[/tag] is simply the result of intellectual laziness.
“It’s easier to teach what you’ve always taught, a model that’s been passed down from father to son again and again,” says Colander. “Economists have nice jobs, they’re at the center of society, they get to travel around the world, they have prestige, and why would you open up a can of worms if you could avoid it?” “
. . .
“At first, these conversations leave me disheartened. Here we are, in full planetary emergency, a time when we need new young graduates with a realistic understanding of what is wrong with the world, with skills that will help humanity chart a new course. And what do economics departments aspire to churn out? Individuals trained to not recognize symptoms of impending collapse, trained to ignore appalling inequality, trained to celebrate profligate waste, trained to be closed-minded and unwilling to engage with different disciplines.
But there are signs that suggest that the era of thought control in economics is coming to an end. Complex systems theory tells us that just when a system seems most entrenched and stable, accumulating tensions eventually lead to rapid change, reorganizing the system. The tensions pulling at the mainstream discipline are growing. A number of the recent Nobel prizes in economics have been awarded for research that is beginning to pry open the mainstream model. Dissident economists are getting organized, holding conferences, winning prizes, publishing journals and attracting a new wave of students. Once again, mainstream courses are losing credibility with students as the toy economic models they play with in class grow more and more divorced from the alarming view outside the classroom window. Professors in other faculties are challenging economists for misunderstanding and misapplying knowledge borrowed from psychology, biology and physics.”