Nobel economics prizes after 2008 openly celebrated the very orthodoxy that failed

Evidence

The 2011 Bank of Sweden Prize bestowed upon Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims was exemplary of this particular culture of effrontery, this hegira from all reckoning, a big middle finger brandished at anyone who dares disparage orthodox macroeconomics. This looks like the sort of invincibility that makes for really popular comic book heroes, or embattled dictators who pronounce from the parapet that “there is no alternative.” — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 438

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Mirowski’s broader thesis of the neoliberal ‘thought collective’ rewarding itself; also echoes the ‘There Is No Alternative’ Thatcherite framing central to austerity literature. — connects to: Economics survived the 2008 crisis intellectually unscathed, unlike other disciplines under attack — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 456; Homo speculans is the subject that replaced rational homo economicus after 2008; After 2008 the neoliberal thought collective intensified capture of economics — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 975 (+5 more)
• SEED: The Sargent/Sims prize as an explicit provocation is a strong case study for an essay on how failed orthodoxies re-legitimize themselves through institutional self-awarding.

Broader Connections

• Economics survived the 2008 crisis intellectually unscathed, unlike other disciplines under attack #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 456
• After 2008 the neoliberal thought collective intensified capture of economics #expands (0.82) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 975
• Empirical failure does not dislodge orthodox economists from their theory #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 722
• The 2008 crisis invalidated the preceding thirty years of financial orthodoxy #corroborates (0.78) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 133
• Economics profession generates strikingly few serious revisions to orthodoxy #exemplifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 663
• Homo speculans is the subject that replaced rational homo economicus after 2008 #qualifies (0.70)