When is an economist not an economist?

A fraught question that warrants reflection on who gets to be a member of the influential informal guild

Anthropic’s Economist in the Anthropocene

Sometimes Models Collapse

Power: A Primer for Perplexed Economists

Let's Assume an Unfettered Marketplace of Ideas! Or Actually, Let's Not.

The Syllabus on Twitter / X

In the 1970s, radical economists left the university to work as activists. From the Union for Radical Political Economics to economic affairs bulletins, our book of the week investigates how the New Left changed economics.By Tiago Mata on @CambridgeUPhttps://t.co/aQQi9nqd0C pic.twitter.com/FM1A9nK5vN— The Syllabus (@syllabus_tweets) September 1, 2026

The Development Economist Who Wasn’t

Once dismissed from the field he helped found, Albert O. Hirschman feels newly relevant.

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system - a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The book analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework. Using examples from politics, film (Children Of Men, Jason Bourne, Supernanny), fiction (Le Guin and Kafka), work and education, it argues that capitalist realism colors all areas of contemporary experience, is anything but realistic and asks how capitalism and its inconsistencies can be challenged. It is a sharp analysis of the post-ideological malaise that suggests that the economics and politics of free market neo-liberalism are givens rather than constructions. New Edition includes:Forward by Zoe Fisher, Mark’s wife, talking about Mark as a personIntroduction by Alex Niven, his friend and colleague, talking about the political significance of the book thirteen years after it was writtenAfterword by Tariq Goddard, the original editor and publisher, describing the writing and editing of the book, its original reception, and Mark’s own view of it"A quick and entertaining read." Socialist Standard "A provocative and necessary read...for anyone wanting to talk seriously about the politics of education today. " Times Higher Educational Supplement

What corporate thrillers tell us about the '90s economy

PLUS: Has Forum Brain crossed the gender divide?

Anthropic Economic Index: Insights from Claude 3.7 Sonnet

The second update from the Anthropic Economic Index

Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago | Fortune

In the 1980s, economist Robert Solow made an observation that reminded economists of today’s AI boom: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”

Exponential Economist Meets Finite Physicist | Do the Math

[An updated treatment of some of this material appears in Chapter 2 of the Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet (free) textbook, also mirrors a 2022 article in Nature Physics..]

Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago | Fortune

In the 1980s, economist Robert Solow made an observation that reminded economists of today’s AI boom: “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”

The world’s most influential economist is oddly unconvincing

Daron Acemoglu is revered. Why?

The Dead Economy Theory

We can laugh at them but we have to take this seriously

danmcquillan (@danmcquillan@kolektiva.social) on Twitter / X

Fisher/Jameson said "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism". And yet, that act of imagining alternatives is urgent; if AI tells us nothing else, it tells us that capitalism is actively imagining the end of us.— danmcquillan (@danmcquillan@kolektiva.social) (@danmcquillan) August 30, 2026