A week ago, Mike Konczal asked me to guest blog at Rortybomb. I've finally managed to post something, a critical look at arguments that low interest rates in the 2000s are the underlying cause of the Great Recession. Go read, and comment, there.
I missed this debate as I was on vacation and my attempts to understand what was happening just led to more confusion - your explanation is the best I've seen on any blog.
I have a general question about your blog - in what way do you see yourself as a "heterodox economists" ?
In answer to your question, I definitely do identify as heterodox, tho I don't love the word. I guess I would also call myself a Post Keynesian. (As far as economics goes -- politically I am on the side of Marx more than Keynes, tho I think Keynes' political vision is richer than a lot of people realize.)
In some ways, I think that "heterodoxy" is a cohesive enough group sociologically that it doesn't need to be strictly defined in terms of shared views. Obviously there are some important commonalties, but in some ways it is (and probably has to be) defined negatively rather than positively.
That's one reason I prefer the term "structuralist" -- it suggests not just dissent from the mainstream, but a positive alternative program.
The link to Bernanke's Black Box paper isn't working. Btw.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Should be fixed now.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably way ahead of me on this, but your Rortybomb post is listed on the new EconAcademics.org blog aggregator (under 2012-04-06).
ReplyDeletehttp://econacademics.org/
Thanks Slackwire.
ReplyDeleteI missed this debate as I was on vacation and my attempts to understand what was happening just led to more confusion - your explanation is the best I've seen on any blog.
I have a general question about your blog - in what way do you see yourself as a "heterodox economists" ?
Rob-
ReplyDeleteThanks!
In answer to your question, I definitely do identify as heterodox, tho I don't love the word. I guess I would also call myself a Post Keynesian. (As far as economics goes -- politically I am on the side of Marx more than Keynes, tho I think Keynes' political vision is richer than a lot of people realize.)
In some ways, I think that "heterodoxy" is a cohesive enough group sociologically that it doesn't need to be strictly defined in terms of shared views. Obviously there are some important commonalties, but in some ways it is (and probably has to be) defined negatively rather than positively.
That's one reason I prefer the term "structuralist" -- it suggests not just dissent from the mainstream, but a positive alternative program.
Thankss for a great read
ReplyDelete