Economism
by James Kwak · first published 2017
75% recommend25% neutral
Outlines a deconstruction of the framework for understanding the world of classroom economics, clarifying assumptions and misleading teachings while sharing historical insights into how economism became a prevalent influence in the U.S.
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…urge you to reevaluate your understanding of economics as well. I recently made a book recommendation on here, I'd like to make it again. 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang Economism by James Kwak And no it's not at all hard to argue against the invisible hand theory although I'd really like to not do that here. But just consider how far physics has advanced since the 18th century,…
on “When the Patient Is a Gold Mine: The Trouble with Rare-Disease Drugs” ↗…sorts of economic flailing in these comments. Is it okay to make a reading recommendation? I think people who read them will have a better understanding of how economics actually works in the real world. Economism by James Kwak Economic Ideas You Should Forget by Bruno Frey & David Iselin
on ““Evicted”, an ethnographic study of tenants in low-income housing (2016)” ↗…and worship of Piketty. Have you read Piketty? I'm going to recommend two books which should be a gentle introduction to my viewpoint: 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality by James Kwak EDIT: I'd also note that one of the things that frustrates me most is to see the politicization of economics. The misuse of economic terminology…
on “Debunking “America has become so anti-innovation – it's economic suicide”” ↗…undergrad/MBA economics 101 distracts from that, and (even while aspiring to be value neutral) implicitly promotes a trust in markets and corporations that is naive and misguided. James Kwak's book "Economism" is a nice antidote to that: https://www.amazon.com/Economism-Bad-Economics-Rise-Inequali...
on “Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers” ↗You are economically misinformed. You should read "Economism" by James Kwak.
on “Guaranteed Minimum What?” ↗Great book on this is James Kwak's "Economism" - the abuse of purported economic insight for political purposes. As just one simple example, good old Hekscher-Olin trade theory (a neat general equilibrium model with 2 countries, 2 goods, and 2 factors…
on “The AI Misinformation Epidemic” ↗…worth of theory is its predictive power Naive economics predicts that deregulation leads to higher welfare. That prediction did not pan out. James Kwak has elaborated on the above points in his book Economism [1]. > It is not useful for describing, predicting, or governing society. Well, governing society better is precisely what is at stake here. This article might not be the best manifesto for reform of…
on “Post-crash economics: have we learnt nothing?” ↗…is just the facile statement I argue against. [1] Note that these Econ 101 arguments for the primacy of profit maximisation rest on many assumptions that don't hold, see for example James Kwak's book Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality.
on “Facebook chooses profits over people” ↗…economics is dominant in popular thought. Yes, and that is quite bad, and is often exploited particularly by the political right, the business-friendly laissez-faire libertarians. James Kwak calls this Economism, and he has a great book about it [4]. - Inflation [...] can't look at it as a single figure. Again, to the extent that it reflects the price increase for the consumption basket of an average consumer:…
on “Inflation is differential and restructuring (2021)” ↗An excellent related book is James Kwak's * Economism - Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality*, a critique of taking simple Econ 101 models for gospel and using them to justify "neoliberal" policies often benefitting elites. https://economism.net
on “Rescuing Economics from Neoliberalism” ↗James Kwak's book Economism explains this and other failures of naive Econ 101 thinking. But as you said, it can't be refuted often enough for the libertarian crowd :-)
on “Econ 101 No Longer Explains the Job Market” ↗Very good observations. And indeed, the whole notion that maximising shareholder value is the goal to pursue stems, I think, from a naive "economism", as James Kwak called it in his excellent book Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality [1], namely the following train of thought: The whole point of society is to maximise utility. We can't…
on “Facebook’s New Message to WhatsApp: Make Money” ↗I think more pertinent are Economism by James Kwak (on the naive use of Econ 101), Global Inequality by Branko Milanovic (a better, or at least much more legible, analysis of inequality within and among countries than Piketty's tome), and…
on “A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality” ↗Right. And now that you have echoed Economics 101, it is time to look at these issues in a bit more detail. See for example John Kwak's Economism, in which he addresses this facile justification in some detail. https://economism.net
on “Is Inequality Inevitable?” ↗> a lot of economics as it’s used for political decisions is way oversimplified to the point of being useless or just plain wrong. Absolutely. A point well made by James Kwak in his book Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality, where he complains about this caricature of Economics 101 that is often used to justify laissez-faire policies. https://economism.net
on “Job loss predictions over rising minimum wages haven't come true” ↗