The Profit Doctrine

The economics profession has a lot to answer for. After the late 1970s, the ideas of influential economists have justified policies that have made the world more prone to economic crisis, remarkably less equal, more polluted and less secure than it might be. How could ideas and policies that proved to be such an abject failure come to dominate the economic landscape?By critically examining the work of the most famous economists of the neoliberal period including Alan Greenspan, Milton Friedman, and Robert Lucas, the authors Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson demonstrate that many of those who rose to prominence did so primarily because of their defence of, and contribution to, rising corporate profits and not their ability to predict or explain economic events.An important and controversial book, The Profit Doctrine exposes the uses and abuses of mainstream economic canons, identify those responsible and reaffirm the primacy of political economy.

A comprehensive account of the role of professional economists in the economic, social and environmental crises of the early 21st century

List of Boxes, Figures and TablesList of AbbreviationsAcknowledgements1. Prophets and Profits2. The Contest of Economic Ideas: Survival of the Richest3. The Consequences of Economic Ideas4. Milton Friedman: The Godfather of the Age of Instability and Inequality5. The Deregulationists: Public Choice and Private Gain6. The Great Vacation: Rational Expectations and Real Business Cycles7. Bursting Bubbles: Finance, Crisis and The Efficient Market Hypothesis8. Economists Go to Washington: Ideas in Action9. Conclusion: Dissenters and VictorsBibliographyIndex