Economists in Trouble

Yes, they’re the only economists we have, but the profession really is in a dismal state. Very few were ahead of the curve in warning us about the looming credit and housing bubbles. Now they have little authoritative to offer about the precise nature of a stimulus package that would be most effective. And when it comes to the trade debate, as I argue in The Tyranny Of Dead Ideas, they’ve let down the country (and jeopardized their own ideals) by treating the need to provide health and pension security for average Americans as an afterthought in the case for trade, rather than as a crusade the profession itself needs to lead if we're going to avoid a protectionist backlash.

Some respected economists need to lead their academic colleagues in a rethinking of the profession’s priorities. We need economics to make a bigger social contribution. As a glance at the agenda of the American Economic Association’s recent annual meeting suggests, too many of these folks spend their careers drilling down into highly quantitative trivia instead of developing fresh ideas on the broader challenges of political economy. It’s not just Wall Street that’s diverted too much of the nation’s economic talent into unproductive channels – it’s the narrow, tenure-producing but irrelevant work in too many economics departments, too.