At the recent Make Markets Be Markets conference, I got to ask a questions of the esteemed panel — Joseph Sitglitz, George Soros, Jim Chanos, Simon Johnson, Elizabeth Warren, etc.
That question was simply this:
Why do Bad Ideas seems to persist for so long? How do certain concepts hang around, long after they have been disproven?
The answers were unsatisfying.
Which brings me to this question for any graduate students, undergraduates and even college Professors: What bad economic or financial ideas are being currently taught in your departments?
Perhaps its the usual nonsense about the rational profit maximizing homo economicus; Maybe its the wonders of Deregulation, and its bastard cousin Self regulation. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is a perennial favorite amongst the tenured set. And any sort of deification of markets also qualifies.
So, college students of America (or their parents), what can you tell me?
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