Contrary to popular belief and university propaganda, academia do not always foster an independent mind. In their first course on microeconomics, every budding economist is confronted with the notion of rational economic man allocating his scarce resources to fulfill as many of his stable and given preferences as possible. If these budding economists are like
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As the majority of economists were (and most of them still are) working on a model in which markets ensure superior outcomes if left to themselves, they could not foresee the financial crisis. All the deregulation that happened since the early 80s, the supposed rational behavior of market participants, the technological capacity for calculating risks
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I love going to the movies. It really helps me to relax after a long day of teaching. This week, I went to see Murder on the Orient Express with my nephew, Paul. The movie, based on an Agatha Christie novel, tells the story of a murder committed on a stranded train. Hercule Poirot, the
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On Friday, November 3rd, Professor Rodrik is in Room for Discussion to discuss Trade and Globalization, a topic he has discussed at length in The Globalization Paradox (2011). What I appreciate about Rodrik is that he is highly self-critical and openly admits that he, too, was overoptimistic in the run-up to the financial crisis. As
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