Nearly all orthodox American macroeconomists receive central bank funding

Evidence

The Fed is constructed to evade democratic accountability, and as such, short of a Supreme Court order, it abstains from documentation of its web of support of the modern economics profession. For instance, the Fed declined to report more recent totals of actual employment. Related agencies loom equally large. Depending on how one regards the International Monetary Fund in the financial constellation, that would add roughly another 1,100 economists employed in Washington, D.C., alone. The World Bank refuses to report any breakdown of employment statistics out of its aggregate 10,000 employees worldwide whatsoever. But that was not all. The Fed board plus the twelve regional Feds awarded 305 contracts to other external economists to the tune of 3 million—although some individual economists enjoyed multiple contracts. In 2009, contracts issued for external economic research totaled 433 million. Some high-profile economists are kept on paid retainer, without even having to produce actual reports. Printing your own money means you can afford to cover all relevant bases. It is safe to say that there are few orthodox American macroeconomists who have not enjoyed a subvention from the Fed (or the international agencies) at some time during their career. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 527

Categorization

• XREF: Directly extends the thought-collective map the reader is assembling — the Fed, IMF, World Bank as the funding nodes that make the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ self-sustaining. — connects to: Central bank funding blurs whose interests academic economists serve — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 524

Broader Connections

• Central bank funding blurs whose interests academic economists serve #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 524