The ‘pure economics’ rebrand removed democratic scrutiny from economic policy

Evidence

The rise of neoclassical economics at the beginning of the twentieth century portrayed economic theory as being objective. “Pure economics” emerged as the new label for what until then had been known as “political economy.” This astute rebranding reimagined an economy that was somehow beyond power relations. Economists became the gatekeepers of infallible models on par with those used by the hard sciences—like, say, Newtonian mechanics—and too sophisticated for most citizens to understand. This coincided with the rise of allegedly politically independent economic institutions such as central banks, which began removing key policy decisions from democratic scrutiny. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 31

Categorization

• DEFINE: Grounds the definitional shift from ‘political economy’ to ‘pure economics’ in a specific historical rebranding move.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s foundational austerity/neoliberalism interest: the same technocratic removal of economic decisions from democratic oversight. — connects to: Economics became ‘pure’ by excluding class and history, yet justified state coercion. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 214; Neoclassical economics rebranded political economy to hide power relations — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 31; Pure economics expelled class analysis but smuggled class assumptions back in — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1304 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Central bank independence was formalized to exempt economic policy from democratic control #exemplifies (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 71
• Neoclassical economics rebranded political economy to hide power relations #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 31
• Economics has replaced politics as the governing science of the state #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 154
• Economics became ‘pure’ by excluding class and history, yet justified state coercion. #qualifies (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 214
• Pure economics expelled class analysis but smuggled class assumptions back in #expands (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1304
• Economists served fascism by reestablishing the economics-politics divide #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 193
• Formal political equality masks deep economic servitude that hollows out democracy #corroborates (0.70) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 406