A couple of years after the financial collapse of 2008, David Enrich, the award-winning Europe banking editor at The Wall Street Journal, went sifting back through his clippings from that chaotic period, looking for stories that might have anticipated it.
Many economists have good reasons to be more dismal than usual. After all, their academic discipline took a bashing in the wake of the financial crisis, and the practical relevance of economic insights has been repeatedly questioned.
One could argue that nowadays there is not much disagreement among schools on how modern economics should work, but historical evidence shows the opposite.
The future of the world economy is not a matter only at the hands of those from the social sciences.
A quick analysis of the list of academic economists present at the World Economic Forum in Davos yields a somewhat unsurprising insight: women are under-represented in the economics profession.
Despite the economist Larry Summer’s announcement, aired on the morning just before Davos, that their time as masters of the global economy is over, people are still likely to have plenty of questions for central bankers at this year’s World Economic Forum. Especially for those coming from the Swiss National Bank.
Macroeconomists enjoy a certain celebrity status, even if a lot of it is negative. Of the academic economists (from both economics departments and business schools) listed as Annual Meeting participants at this year’s Davos, just 14% concentrate their research on microeconomics.
Economists are invited to Davos as a reflection of the profession’s influence in society, particularly in policy making and business strategy.