Economic orthodoxy’s stagnation hurt the left’s credibility more than the right’s

Evidence

Ranging from the White Mountains to Mont Pèlerin, economists have proven exceedingly shopworn and hackneyed in their responses to the crisis. This opinion has congealed into conventional wisdom. However, this coagulation has had an asymmetrical effect upon the two ends of the political spectrum. Monotonous repetition seems to have fortified the right admirably well in weathering the crisis, whereas by contrast, it has delegitimated the left to an even greater degree than its rather parlous status during the decade of the Great Bubble. Beyond the tendering of excuses, there hovers the open question of to what extent the unexpected resurgence of the right after the crisis has grown out of the stock of neoliberal cultural infrastructure built up over the period from 1980 till 2008, and conversely, to what extent the left has been the author of its own rout. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 24

Categorization

• SEED: The asymmetry claim — the same intellectual failure fortifying the right while delegitimating the left — is a strong essay hook on why ‘both sides’ readings of post-2008 economics are wrong.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 24
• XREF: connects to: Post-crisis orthodoxy rebounded as the left lacked a diagnosis — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 16; The left’s reliance on orthodox economics enabled its co-optation by neoliberalism — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 901; Left economists’ voluntary adherence to orthodoxy explains the left’s failure post-2008. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 58 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The left’s reliance on orthodox economics enabled its co-optation by neoliberalism #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 901
• Left economists’ voluntary adherence to orthodoxy explains the left’s failure post-2008. #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 58
• The 2008 crisis disoriented the left instead of vindicating its economic worldview #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 46
• Economic orthodoxy has grown more neoliberal and more conservative over time. #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 2216
• The left’s defeat may have been a slow disintegration rather than a battle #qualifies (0.72) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 276