Economists manufacture simplified crisis narratives blaming government to preserve public trust

Evidence

Thus the injection of surplus noise into public discourse concerning the crisis is Phase One of the agnotological project, and its performance is a substantial justification for the otherwise unaccountable contemporary bounty of the bulk of the orthodox economics profession. But that is only half the story. The other half is amenable to being documented much more precisely. … Phase Two materializes when economists openly struggle with the contradiction between beseeching the public to place their Trust in the Market and insisting the public Trust the Economists. It was made starkly manifest in at least two incidents during the crisis: the public justification of the TARP bailout, and the subsequent whitewash of the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission. … In both instances it involved the fabrication and promulgation of an alternative narrative concerning the crisis; nicely honed and simplified so it can fit on a placard, or a stump speech teleprompter; one that has the fingerprints of the NTC all over it. … Of course, it was all the government’s fault. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 841

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The two-phase agnotology model — noise injection then narrative fabrication (blaming government) — is a crisp machinery that could structure a piece of fiction about elite epistemic control.
• SEED: A potential essay angle: tracing how the TARP bailout was publicly justified and the FCIC narrative was manufactured, as a case study in ‘agnotological phase two.’
• XREF: connects to: Economists responded to the Queen’s question with denial of institutional failure. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 442; The behavioral-economics-revolution narrative was manufactured by journalists and political appointees — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 744; The crisis-as-government-fault narrative was engineered to justify austerity — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 950 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The crisis-as-government-fault narrative was engineered to justify austerity #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 950
• Economists’ ineffectual model disputes distract the public from threatening crisis explanations #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 840
• Economists lost control of crisis discourse to journalists—a sign of being caught unawares #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 464
• Finance escaping crisis consequences legitimated the economics profession dodging blame #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 583
• Economists obscuring knowledge during crisis stems from contradicting logics of expertise and market faith #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 655
• The bad-apples framing deflects blame from systemic causes #exemplifies (0.75)