Economism Quotes

“Ideas gain power precisely when they become useful to an important segment of society—when they support the interests of that group or provide it with a favorable interpretation of the world. To be effective weapons, ideas must be more than brilliant or insightful. They must be refined into easily understood form, applied to the issues that people care about, and repeated through multiple channels to diverse audiences until they appear self-evident. That unglamorous work requires money and manpower, which will rarely be expended without the expectation of some return.”
― James Kwak, Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality

“Ideas matter. They do not matter because they are incontrovertibly right, like mathematical theorems [...] Ideas matter because they have the power to shape the way people see the world around them.”
― James Kwak, Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality

“It is impossible to make sense of a complex social order without some sort of explanatory framework that organizes our vision.”
― James Kwak, Economism: Bad Economics and the Rise of Inequality