Robert Johnson - New Perspectives For The Economics
Channel: Stifterverband
Date: 2012-06-04

New perspectives for the economy beyond the financial crises
Horizons - Experts discuss on Stifterverband webTV

Interview with Robert Johnson
Economist and Director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), New York

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Johnson: "I think the economics profession was making tremendous money in consulting for the financial sector. Many of the theories were not investigational illumination how financial markets worked. They were portraits painted like a marketing document. They did a great disservice to mankind and we're cleaning up after that right now."

"When the people become anxious they want the expert to tell them what's going to happen. And they feel good when their anxiety is relieved because they think they understand the future. But if the expert instead of telling the truth is telling snake oil, a false story, when that is unmasked the expert becomes the scapegoat."

"Economists are very much accused of "only seeing the economy through the eyes of the model" as opposed to seeing the economy and building a model as a map of what reality is. Formalism is very different to science."

"There are several modifications to economics teaching that need to take place. The first is rather than teaching introductory economics as an indoctrination in method they should teach it as a course in the philosophy of science where the subject is economics and its assumptions and the trade-offs and the flaws as well as the strings are explored sceptically on behalf of the student."