As of writing this, only two American Universities teach economic theory outside of Neoclassical Economics. The field of study in the United States—and, to some degree, in the world—is dominated by this single school of thought, whose followers promote the idea that markets and competition are the best solution to economic problems, and that regulation just gets in the way. Other ways of looking at issues of wealth and money are barely taught at all. Steeped in this unquestioningly single-track institutional logic for decades and decades, American economists are all but blind to alternative perspectives.
On January 2nd 2015, we teamed up with activists at Adbusters and went to the annual American Economic Association Conference in Boston to demand pluralism within more economics programs across the country. As the largest annual gathering of economists in the US, and a magnet for media attention, the AEA Conference was the perfect location to light brush fires in people’s minds, stoke debate, and inspire new flare-ups of campus activism. As the conference doors opened and participants began arriving, we projected messages of dissent onto the building’s facade for all to see. Meanwhile, Adbuster’s activists entered the conference to distribute flyers and infiltrate panels to ask challenging questions and disrupt the expected flow of the conference.
Neoclassical economics needs to be challenged. By only being taught one economic study, American economists will, of course, only be able to think within that paradigm. It’s clearer than ever that western capitalism as we know it is destructive and dangerous. It’s time to think differently. It’s time to demand pluralism. It’s time to challenge neoclassical economics and capitalism.
More from their campaign here: http://kickitover.org/
