By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/09/2026The Chicago School economists who were catapulted to dominance by Reagan, Thatcher, et al won this debate by changing the frame. They insisted (as neoclassicals love to do) that economics is no mere social science, obsessed with squishy, qualitative matters like "power." 1263
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/09/2026Rather, economics was a *natural* science, like physics, in which everything important could be crystallized (which is to say, reduced) to an equation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_M...en.wikipedia.orgNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences - Wikipedia4:08 PM · Sep 11, 2026 1253
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/09/2026Economists call these equations "models," and they are famously impenetrable...unless you've had extensive training in economics. 1191