The equation of private saving with public interest still shapes today’s economics textbooks

Evidence

Accordingly, private savings and private accumulation never clashed with the general interest. On the contrary, public interest depends on these private “virtues.” Th ese principles remain embedded in the standard economics textbooks of today; they are so ingrained that our protagonists’ exhaustive defense of them seems overboard. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1140

Categorization

• XREF: Direct bridge from interwar Italian austerity ideology to contemporary mainstream economics teaching — core to the reader’s purpose of tying interwar austerity to modern neoliberalism. — connects to: Supply-side economics descends directly from Smith’s saving-drives-investment theory — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 296; Pure economists recast capital as private saving rather than extracted unpaid labor — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 225; Modern economics replaced the class-conflict lens of classical political economy with individualist harmony — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 30 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Pure economists recast capital as private saving rather than extracted unpaid labor #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 225
• Modern economics replaced the class-conflict lens of classical political economy with individualist harmony #corroborates (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 30
• Neoclassical economics replaced class analysis with individualistic merit narratives #corroborates (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 30