A former teaching fellow whom Greg Mankiw once oversaw takes Mankiw to task for presenting “economics as a unified discipline, entirely committed to the neoliberal agenda. Mankiw believes that markets are the solution to everything — and he would like students to think likewise,” writes Gilles Raveaud. “According to Mankiw, if a problem persists, it can only be for one of two reasons: The market is imperfect, or it is inexistent. No other explanation for persisting economic or social problems is permitted.”
Raveaud writes (and I’m taking this out of order — it’s from his lead paragraph): “The Harvard economics professor and former adviser to George W. Bush is one of the most gifted economists of our generation. He is also one of the most effective and talented propagandists of our times. His target: young economics students. His field of operation: the world’s universities. His weapon: the best-selling textbook in the world. It includes 36 chapters and 800 pages of nice colors, graphs, cool stories, and interesting asides. Don’t worry if you or your kids don’t speak English, Mankiw’s text surely exists in your language.”
Replies Mankiw in his blog:
“The author, a cofounder of the ‘post-autistic economics movement,’ tries to portray my book as right-wing propaganda.
“This is not the first time my text has been criticized for being biased. When President Bush appointed me to be CEA chair, some members of the political right opposed the nomination because my textbook was too Keynesian and not sufficiently sympathetic to their supply-side views. I suppose the symmetry in the attacks suggests I am getting things about right.
“When I teach introductory economics, either in the classroom or in my textbook, I view myself as an ambassador for the economics profession. I try to represent the economic mainstream, not my personal political views. ... The job of an introductory course is to present, as honestly as possible, the consensus of the profession. If the typical economist is more market-friendly than the typical literature professor, then that point of view will likely be reflected in the leading textbooks.”
Mankiw says, “I wish he had come to talk with me about his views while he was involved in the course. ... A conversation on the topic would have been edifying for both of us.”
There’s a lot of economic and political theory, not to mention — apparently — some personal history wrapped in all this. The posts’ details and links are worth perusing.