Economists’ deepest ethical controversy was advising dictatorships, not crisis conflicts of interest.

Evidence

Until “Inside Job,” the most serious ethical debate that I know of within the profession was over advising Chile’s Pinochet regime. One view was that providing advice to any regime that abused human rights was wrong. Another view was that providing economic advice was ethical, because it would improve the lives of the people living under the regime. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 610

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on Chicago Boys and the Pinochet coup (e.g., Klein’s Shock Doctrine). — connects to: Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 133

Broader Connections

• Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. #expands (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 133