Have you even wondered what those economists were talking about? Here Robert Nielsen explains the various economic schools in a concise and accessible way. If you watch the news on telly, you would be forgiven for thinking there is only one valid economic theory and that theory is the one much loved by the Right and Nu Labour. Well, guess what? It isn’t. Read on.
Economics is not a homogenous or unified subject, rather there are a series of competing ideas over the key areas. These ideas can be roughly divided into several schools of thought and I’ll give a guide to them here. It is the great myth that economists pretend to be non-partisan when in reality we all have our own biases and opinions. It is impossible to study a topic without forming an opinion of it and economists are no exception. So by understanding the different schools of thought you can not only understand why economists give different and contradicting policy advice but also how they see through different lenses.
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