First of all, only a few graduate programs offer anything for radicals. Right off the top, these graduates are regarded as second-class economists, because they do not concentrate on the technical skills, but devote some time to learn about the real world.
Even more, elite schools hire other elite schools. But these schools discourage radicals. Winning the support of a famous economist is very important in getting getting a job and highly ranked university. But very few famous economists are supported of radicals. During the '60s, some famous economists helped to promote the careers of some of the radicals at Harvard. Nothing like that has happened since that I can think of.
Also, elite schools recognize works publish in elite journals. These journals, with the exception of the Journal of Economic Perspectives do not publish radicals articles. What most economists know about Marx is that he has nothing worthwhile to say about anything. He favors gulags and the butchering of babies.
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Eric Beck wrote:
>
> >LF and DH wrote:
> >
> >>As a field, economics has become increasingly hostile
> >>to unorthodox opinion in recent years, and virtually no
> >>seriously left-of-center economist has been hired by a
> >>major department in more than two decades.
> >
> >So what's the reason for the dearth of hirings? Is it simply blacklisting?
> >Or is there a shrinking pool, both quantitatively and qualitatively, of
> >left-leaning people who study economics at the academy (have they all
> >migrated to cultural studies, or started newsletters?)? Or is it a little
> >of both?
>
> It's a combination of things, I think. Progressive students often run
> away screaming from economics, because it is such a stultifying
> field. Those who survive to the PhD level often shun academic jobs
> for unions and think tanks, because to thrive as an economist it
> helps to be isolated and irrelevant. And colleges and universities
> won't hire radical economists, either. Bhagwati blamed the mediocrity
> of most leftie candidates for this dearth (along with the corporate
> bias explanation we quoted in the article).
>
> Maybe some of the employed, or hope-to-be-employed, radical
> economists on the list could enlighten.
>
> Doug
--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu