How mainstream economics treats us all as criminals

24 Jan, 2024 at 12:44 | Posted in Economics | Comments Off on How mainstream economics treats us all as criminals

For most mainstream economists a model is just a model and there are many models. Norms only enter into the picture in terms of clearly stated and testable components of models and models provide a means to explore the scope of theory. In principle, policy advocacy is supported by model findings and as such mainstream economists tend to start from the position that their work has the rigour and clarity of quantitative science and that its policy implications carry the force of empirical evidence. Critics meanwhile tend to argue that mainstream economics struggles to come to terms with the implicit normativity of its frames of reference and with the ethics its concepts and foci presuppose but that its discourse elides. In particular, they often criticise the tacit politicisation of its theory and method.

In a recent paper in Journal of Economic Issues, I explore a particularly interesting variant on the problem of unexplored normativity, politicisation and its ethical consequences. Put simply, standard theory of tax evasion inadvertently treats everyone as a criminal. Moreover, while recent work on theory of “tax morale” seems different it is not as different as one might think. Both contribute to a world of biddable neoliberal subjects.

Jamie Morgan