Why are Students Leaving Politics Out of Economics?
What obligations do economists have to society?
It appears that just as our planet is facing it’s direst moment –
largely because of an economic paradigm that runs roughshod over
environmental considerations – economics students are increasingly
leaving political considerations out of their field of study, focussing
on small, specific projects rather than looking at the larger picture.
As University of Chicago economist and best-selling author of
Freakonomics Steven Levitt told the New York Times “We have lost our
optimism that the tools of economics can be used to manage the economy,
and we have moved to a much more micro view of the world. We can tell
you whether labor unions raise productivity or stifle innovation or
raise wages, but we are reluctant to judge whether the trade offs are
good or bad.”
We at Adbusters were intrigued by this cop-out attitude, so we canvassed
a cross-section of economists for their thoughts. Specifically, we
asked: how can economists justify their refusal to address the
environmental problems they are complicit in? How can they simply opt
out of the discussion and focus on their narrow microeconomic games?
Here are their responses:
John Ralston Saul
Mark Anielski
Paul Ormerod
Robert Costanza
David Colander
James Robertson
Edward Fullbrook
Joshua Farley
Read:
http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/65/Why_are_Students_Leaving_Politics_Out_of_Economics.html
