Saturday, February 6, 2010

Debunking Economics

Debunking Economics, by Steve Keen, is perhaps a seminal work for bringing economics out of the 19th century. Building on the work of Keynes and Hyman Minsky, Keen makes a strong case for leaving static, equilibrium based neoclassical economics behind.

The flaws in classical economic axioms are so obvious, and the predictions so poor, that they are indefensible. Yet, their ideas still dominate academic and practicing economists, with policies that are not just misguided, but harmful to the well being of the world political economy.

The new dynamic models Keen has developed show great promise as a new way to approach an understanding of modern credit based economies. This book ranks near the top of all economic books on my bookshelf.

I was particularly impressed with chapters 10 and 11, which cover financial markets, the efficient markets hypothesis, Irving Fisher's theories before and after the Depression, and Minsky's financial instability hypothesis.

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