Mainstream economics gives patrons the knowledge they pay for rather than objective truth.

Evidence

Griliches was merely stating the obvious: “legitimate” economists produce the sorts of knowledge that their patrons desire, within the trajectory of their accumulated intellectual heritage; that list of patrons includes neoliberal elements within the government, with their allies in selected ranked economics departments and think tanks. Congressmen today should not act as though the DSGE model and its precursors were somehow foisted upon unsuspecting regulators and an innocent public by imperious economists. Mostly, Americans just got what they paid for. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 806

Categorization

• XREF: Directly instantiates the ‘thought collective’ thesis at the center of this chapter and the book. — connects to: Economists publicly deny the industry ties that structure their profession. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 566; Mainstream economists defended capital’s returns as productivity rather than exploitation. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 219; Economics legitimizes austerity claims by pretending to value-free objectivity. (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Economics legitimizes austerity claims by pretending to value-free objectivity. #exemplifies (0.90)
• Mainstream economists defended capital’s returns as productivity rather than exploitation. #exemplifies (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 219
• Business patrons funded free market ideas while fearing intellectual disloyalty #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1442
• Neoliberalism makes the market, not experts, the arbiter of truth #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 927
• Career incentives lock economists into intellectually indefensible models they know are wrong #complicates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 792