Powerful (pdf).pdf

The author attended a conference where market-friendly participants presented thoughtful papers, but none considered the role of power in economics. The author argues that conventional economics excludes power, reducing it to a metaphor, and that this exclusion has a long history, dating back to classical political economists who ignored abusive exercises of power, such as the Game Laws. The author suggests that economists have created a theory that excludes considerations of work, workers, and working conditions, eliminating power from the discipline. The author's own work, including books like "The Invisible Handcuffs of Capitalism" and "Railroading Economics", aims to show how economics has destructive consequences and how power is a crucial factor in understanding the capitalist economy. The author argues that a clear consideration of mainstream economic theory should alert economists to the inherent contradictions of capitalism and that power should be a central consideration in economic analysis.