Orthodox-leaning insiders expect any neoclassical revival to come from lower-ranked younger economists.

Evidence

One must concede it is at least more likely that any revitalization of the neoclassical tradition would come from below, a younger and less lionized cohort, if it were to happen at all. Journalists have been misled, barking up the wrong cedar. This, I believe, is also the current attitude of the effective leaders of the orthodox profession. Hence the dance card both lengthens and becomes a bit more obscure, with numerous potential candidates for the title of Prophet of the Reformation put forth from different corners. Indeed, there are already starting to appear dedicated surveys in the form of laundry lists that simply array any “cause” someone, somewhere managed to publish; and more pertinent to current concerns, surveys of all the different ways casts of hundreds have sought to stuff finance and “failure” into orthodox macroeconomic models. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 808

Categorization

• XREF: Sets up the chapter’s turn toward mid-tier ‘reform’ attempts as the real locus of the post-2008 thought-collective maneuvering.