It is important for any expert to know their limits. It could be argued that economists ‘oversell’ themselves and pretend … Continue reading “Economists – know your limits!”

Famously, Michael Gove attacked experts in the EU referendum campaign. And, of course, the experts have fought back, leading Gove … Continue reading “The trouble with economic ‘experts’ is their exaggerated faith in spurious mathematical sophistication”

The financial crash knocked some of the stuffing out of the economics profession, though you wouldn’t know it given the … Continue reading “It’s time for diversity (in the unfashionable sense) at the Bank of England”

I was on The Big Questions (BBC1) recently talking about poverty. Specifically I was trying to help answer the question ‘Will … Continue reading “It’s not all doom and gloom. Beware politicised forecasts”

In the run-up to the EU referendum, a number of the most high-profile companies, institutes and departments went out on … Continue reading “Of experts and ‘experts’: economists and Brexit”

During a briefing on 5 November 2008 – conducted with big wall-chart graphs – about the ongoing financial ‘crunch’, the … Continue reading “More macro-quackery”

As one set of economists warns that rapid debt reduction is likely to plunge the economy into deep recession, another … Continue reading “A Post-Keynesian sleight of hand”

If you want to get on the front page of the BBC website and all over the news one morning … Continue reading “Stating the obvious to two decimal places”

One frequently hears statements that the stimulus package led to a lower level of unemployment or that it contributed to … Continue reading “Stimulus success stories should be treated with scepticism”