For two generations, the vast majority of mainstream economists have found themselves on the wrong side of history. They have either uncritically echoed the failed orthodoxies of neo-liberalism or silently acquiesced to the conventional wisdom of endlessly lowering taxes and delivering austerity budgets. Well it looks like this may be about to change for the better. Led by a vanguard of mostly female economists, the tide is shifting, pointing us in a new and more progressive direction.
In response to a recent opinion piece appearing in the Financial Times, no less than 142 economists agreed to sign off on a letter widely repudiating a strategy to usher in more of the same as we come out of the pandemic. – David Thornley
“When the private sector is struggling, “fiscal discipline” can prompt a permanent fall in aggregate demand and output, which unnecessarily stifles employment and household incomes, while leaving future generations worse off […] “
