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Post-Truth: An Alumni Economist’s Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Ben Fine

    (Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK)

Abstract

Drawing upon fifty years as an academic economist, this lecture to alumni of SOAS’s Department of Economics reflects upon the continual “post-truth†aspects of mainstream economics, ranging over its substantive, if shifting, content, its methodology, and its treatment of methodology and interdisciplinarity. It draws upon a wide range of theory, empirical analysis, policy and anecdote to highlight both the need for alternatives and the continuing, even increased, failure of the mainstream to engage with criticism and alternatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Fine, 2019. "Post-Truth: An Alumni Economist’s Perspective," Working Papers 219, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    • Handle: RePEc:soa:wpaper:219
    as

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    File URL: https://www.soas.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-10/economics-wp219.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Fine, 2013. "Economics: Unfit for Purpose," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(3), pages 373-389, September.
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/67ft27s7u58ocangahl1jigu6p is not listed on IDEAS
    3. B. Fine & K. Fine, 1974. "Social Choice and Individual Rankings II," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(4), pages 459-475.
    4. Ben Fine, 2009. "The economics of identity and the identity of economics?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(2), pages 175-191, March.
    5. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "The Superiority of Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 89-114, Winter.
    6. Fine, Ben, 1975. "Individual Liberalism in a Paretian Society," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(6), pages 1277-1281, December.
    7. Ben Fine, 1996. "Reconciling interpersonal comparability and the intensity of preference for the utility sum rule," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 13(3), pages 319-325.
    8. Fine, Ben, 1983. "The order of acquisition of consumer durables : A social choice theoretic approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(2-3), pages 239-248.
    9. Ben Fine, 1999. "The Developmental State Is Dead—Long Live Social Capital?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "The Superiority of Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 89-114, Winter.
    11. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "La superioridad de los economistas," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 17(33), pages 13-43, July-Dece.
    12. Fine, Ben, 2000. "Endogenous Growth Theory: A Critical Assessment," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(2), pages 245-265, March.
    13. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 2003. "Macroeconomic Priorities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 1-14, March.
    14. B. Fine & K. Fine, 1974. "Social Choice and Individual Ranking I," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(3), pages 303-322.
    15. Ben Fine, 2017. "Neither Equilibrium as Such nor as Abstraction: Debating Fred Moseley’s Transformation," International Journal of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 22-28, January.
    16. Fine, Ben, 2002. "Economics Imperialism and the New Development Economics as Kuhnian Paradigm Shift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2057-2070, December.
    17. Ben Fine, 2002. ""Economic imperialism": a view from the periphery," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 187-201, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Heterodox economics; economics imperialism; pluralist economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches

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