Neoliberal intellectuals exploit economists’ ignorance to justify abandoning regulation while exempting themselves

Evidence

If you don’t have a working comprehension of how the economic system failed—and a major thesis of this book is that most economists did not understand the economy’s peculiar path prior to the crisis, and persisted in befuddlement in the aftermath—then the notion that one could impose some one-size-fits-all format of rational regulation is a vain delusion. This catastrophic intellectual failure of the economics profession at large should quash wistful evocations of Cold War versions of “regulation” on the left, and further, frame the implosion of things such as the Dodd-Frank initiative and Basel III. The intellectual wing of the neoliberal movement had actually long made this argument concerning easy appeals to regulation many times before; the difference is that they currently preach that all and sundry consequently should simply capitulate to their natural state of ignorance, and give up most (but not all—an important caveat) attempts at steering the economy. Conspicuously, the neoliberals themselves do not themselves practice what they preach; and it is incumbent upon the left to develop an alternative framework to explain that fact, as part of a project to build an economy that conforms to open advocacy of a roster of social goals. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 50

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Mirowski’s recurring ‘neoliberal thought collective’ theme and its refusal to apply its own no-steering doctrine to its own projects (e.g., central banks). — connects to: Narrow economics training makes practitioners mistake ignorance for intellectual freedom — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 64; Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276; Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40 (+3 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 50

Broader Connections

• Neoliberals preach market supremacy while exempting themselves from its rule #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 281
• Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276
• Narrow economics training makes practitioners mistake ignorance for intellectual freedom #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 64
• Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40
• Ordinary citizens are deliberately kept ignorant of the esoteric neoliberal playbook #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 300
• Professional exclusion of heterodox economists makes neoclassical orthodoxy self-reinforcing #expands (0.72) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 824