Jeff Madrick: “Seven Bad Economic Ideas and How They’ve Hurt Us All”

November 20, 2014 — Jeff Madrick, editor of Challenge magazine, contributing editor at Harper’ s, and former Shorenstein fellow, discussed the widely-adopted yet, in his view, faulty ideas that have dominated U.S. economic policy in recent decades.

Drawing on his recent book, Seven Bad Economic Ideas and How They’ve Hurt Us All, Madrick argued that many of the central tenets of mainstream economics — including aversion to deficits at all costs, monetary policy that prioritizes low inflation, and belief in the invisible hand of the market — set the stage for the 2008 financial crisis, increasing income inequality, and other calamities.

Moderated by Richard Parker, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School.