Mainstream economics: the most unreal myth of all

[Jonathan Nitzan]

In his majestic novel, The Master & Margarita, Bulgakov uses the time-travelling devil to ridicule actual communism, while Saramago applies the same trick with a time-wandering Cain to ridicule the Old Testament.

To their credit, both myths — communism and the almighty — are all about power and its abuses.

This credit cannot be extended to mainstream economics. By relegating all forms of power to other spheres of society, economists have created a flat, make-believe world, populated by totally powerless atoms that bounce off each to the equilibrating tunes of supply and demand.

In this sense, the so-called science of economics is a myth far more removed from the actual world than communism and religion ever were.

References

Bulgakov, Mikhail Afanas evich. 1995. The Master & Margarita. Annotations & Afterward by Ellendea Proffer. Translated by D. B. K. T. O’Connor. Dana Point, CA: Ardis.

Saramago, José. 2011. Cain. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by Jonathan Nitzan.

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