Public-choice logic applied to economists themselves reveals built-in incentives toward rent-seeking theories.

Evidence

The blogger Yves Smith has wonderfully parodied this, by slightly amending the language of public-choice theory of the neoliberal Virginia School to address the code of the economist: … What would you identify as the central insights of Academic Choice theory? … The theory begins by identifying three principal ways in which economists try to maximize their utility. First, they receive salaries from universities, which can be increased if their course enrollment increases. Course enrollment is primarily driven by students with future careers in business and the financial sector, so an economist has an incentive to propound theories that CEOs and financial institutions find attractive. Even if adoption of these theories leads to substantial public costs, these costs will not be shouldered by the economist personally. Second, by developing such theories an economist can open the door to future wealth as a lobbyist or consultant. Third, the support of economists is critical to creating and maintaining special privileges for the financial services industry and for top corporate officers. By threatening to withdraw this support, economists can engage in rent-seeking. I call this last practice academic entrepreneurship. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 597

Categorization

• SEED: A satirical inversion of public-choice theory (‘academic entrepreneurship’) is itself a rhetorical weapon — the method of turning an orthodoxy’s own tools against it is an article/critique move worth imitating.
• DEFINE: Defines ‘academic entrepreneurship’ as economists threatening to withdraw theoretical support to extract rents — a key mechanism term for the thought-collective critique.
• XREF: connects to: Economic theories encode rival justifications for who should receive resources — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 121; Agency theory’s incentives may have helped create the self-interested managers it predicted — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1639; Stigler argued the public rationally under-informs itself about policies with diffuse costs — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1908 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Public choice theory treats all policy as self-interested coalitional maneuvering #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1583
• Empirical research can expose ideology by confronting subjective motives with objective economic facts #corroborates (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1931
• Liberal common-good theory rationalizes reckless private interest #corroborates (0.70) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 797