The Great Recession triggered a redoubling of deliberate ignorance production in economics

Evidence

If we define agnotology to be the analysis of this phenomenon of the intentional production and promotion of ignorance, then it has been the Fourth Horseman of the Absolution from Apocalypse for economists. Whether it be in the context of global warming, oil depletion, “fracking” for natural gas, denial of Darwinism, disparagement of vaccination, or derangement of the conceptual content of Keynesianism, one unprecedented outcome of the Great Recession has been the redoubled efforts to pump massive amounts of noise into the mass media in order to discombobulate an already angry and restive populace. Much of this emanates from the outer think-tank shells of the neoliberal Russian doll, as I have already argued. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 629

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines agnotology within the framework of the four horsemen of the ‘Absolution from Apocalypse’.
• XREF: Locates this within Mirowski’s Russian-doll model of the neoliberal thought collective, tying back to Materialism chapter themes. — connects to: Blaming borrowers’ financial ignorance obscures the structural logic of sub-prime lending — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 528; Agnotology studies manufactured ignorance, distinct from necessarily unknowable things. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 2147; Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Economists obscuring knowledge during crisis stems from contradicting logics of expertise and market faith #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 655
• Economics as a discipline profited from manufactured doubt rather than suffering from it #corroborates (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 633
• The post-crisis search for prophetic economists diluted prediction into vague prior warnings #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 698
• Austerity was installed by deliberately confusing cause and correlation #expands (0.78) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 204
• Finance escaping crisis consequences legitimated the economics profession dodging blame #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 583