I wanted to chime in very briefly with a little rant about the lessons learned from the most recent crisis:
(1) A good number of economists from the left and the right DID predict this would happen and have also discussed in details the chronic problems the US economy has developed over the past few decades. This large minority of economists are often referred to as heterodox (as opposed to the orthodox/mainstream) views heard on the media and in traditional textbooks). So the notion that this crisis was a “surprise” or that “nobody could have predicted” it is BS spewed by leading mainstream economists who are defending their intellectually bankrupt views that have brought them their success and fortunes.
(2) Mainstream economics seems to have learned shockingly little from the crisis even though it confirmed many of the theories of the heterodox/radical economists while decisively falsifying most of the mainstream theories. In this sense the economics profession has shown itself to be thoroughly unscientific (from a methodological perspective) and the majority of its celebrated leaders to be little more than idiot-savants justifying the practices of the elites who feed them.
This is truly a low point in the history of economic thought but let’s not forget the minority of economists who are screaming blue murder for decades and have taken very significant hits to their careers by refusing to be seduced by the simplistic views and generous rewards of the mainstream.
Punkonomics (@DearBalak) 