William K. Black
February 29, 2016 Brooklyn, N.Y.
A blogger has trolled all heterodox economists as believers in the “occult.” More precisely, he is upset about “econ people” (who are likely not economists) and who tweet him or post comments on his blog site. The blogger further complains that these commenters say that they believe in heterodox economics and “new methodologies [that] are poised to topple mainstream economics.” He then goes on to say: “My typical response is to ask what these new methodologies are. But incredibly, I can almost never get an answer.”
The UMKC economics department is chock full of heterodox economists who share the blogger’s experience. We too get weird blogs and tweets that are long on revolutionary conclusions and short on specifics. Some of these messages come from folks who say they are heterodox and some from those that write to denounce heterodox economics. We also get an endless stream of policy nostrums from orthodox economists that promise to transform America (in good ways). They have, collectively, transformed America in terrible ways.
