As you can see in the right panel, I have recently had the opportunity to read Paul Mason’s Postcapitalism. Mason seems to be very fond of the soviet economist Nikolai Kondratiev and his elaborate theory about “long waves”. Mason’s book deals with the geniality of Konratiev in a few chapters, and in the book tells us he also holds lectures. I marked this passage in the margin:
I once gave a lecture on Kondratieff to 200 economics students at a British university. They had not a clue who, or what, I was talking about. ‘Your mistake,’ said an academic to me after the talk, ‘was to mix micro- and macro- economics. They are just not used to that.’ Another lecturer, whose job it was to teach economic history, had never heard of Kondratieff.
Mason, Postcapitalism (2015), p. 45, my emphasis
The end of the world as I know it is obviously near. So reading a blog-post from my old friend Pålsson Syll seems appropriate to link to. The title is “Economists — nothing but a bunch of idiots savants” and I am especially fond of the Robert Skidelsky quote in the beginning. Read and weep, and consider that these people (“economists”) in too many aspects rule the world.
And I can’t help wondering what British university it was…