It’s not an exaggeration to say that both economics as a social science and the economics profession lost considerable luster following the 2008 financial crisis. For many people, it was simply astonishing that so few academic economists, not to mention the legions of economics PhDs working in the private sector and the world’s finance ministries, forecast one of the worst economic downturns in recent memory.
In some circles, this has led to soul-searching about economics’ nature and ends. Many scholars have questioned the rational choice model (the notion that individual actors will generally assign the scarce resources at their disposal in ways that realize the most preferable package of goods obtainable to them) which has exerted a powerful influence upon the framing of economic analysis.
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