Hot Air at the Bank

Today the Bank of England is spending a few thousand pounds to host a conference, convened by its Chief Economist Andrew Haldane, to air the twin subjects of why Economists in general failed to predict - and warn against - the 2007-8 financial crisis, and why the public has no confidence in Economists.

They have not invited me, so they won't hear my version of the true explanation, as set out in my book, NO CONFIDENCE: The Brexit Vote and Economics. That is their loss.

Mr Haldane has shown sympathy for the Manchester [and other] students who established the Post-Crash Economics Society and published the book THE ECONOCRACY that I have commended in this blog. I hope that that group pf brave young people, who have challenged the intellectual hegemony of the Economics professoriat, are given a platform in the event. If they do hear them, I have no doubt that the self-important establishment of the subject will remain impenetrable to their good sense.

BBC Radio 4 gave a few minutes this morning to a preview of the event in which two luminaries of the Economics profession, one from each side of the Atlantic, asserted the old view that the public was wrong to distrust and disbelieve their profession. A professor from Bristol said that Economists do useful things, like assessing the efficiency of health provision through the lens of an economic model. This shows the profundity of the Economists' ignorance: the world needs students of the economy who build a new subject in the light of our experience of making universal health services available to the public; in sharp contrast to the present situation where meaningless and inapplicable 'models' are derived from absurd theory and presented as advice to ministers.

I don't expect that much sense will appear in the meeting room today: but hope springs eternal, even in the lofty chambers of the Bank.