Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXXI)

“As I joked in one of my first blog posts, the dispute between the Monetarists and the Keynesians was resolved when the Keynesians conceded all the substantive points and the Monetarists agreed to be called Keynesians.” (Ariele)

That's pure economics brain rot.

Economics has… pic.twitter.com/Y0h9HArZwW

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 30, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle MMT (CCVIII)

“Government spending creates private-sector income.” (MMTAction)

It sounds innocent, but it's a shell game. First, there is no such thing as the 'private sector'; there is only the business sector and the household sector. To add them mechanically together lets (i) profit/… pic.twitter.com/TYb0altRI2

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 30, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle MMT (CCVII)

“Government spending creates private-sector income. Every pound the state spends is a pound in someone's account. So why do politicians pretend deficits are reckless? Because they don't understand sectoral balances.” (MMTAction)

Neither do MMTers.

There is no such thing as… pic.twitter.com/PNsK8ctxBY

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 30, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Austrianism (CXXXII)

Friedrich Hayek never understood profit and, by logical consequence, how the economic system works. This is self-disqualifying and is a shame for academia.

Hayek got economics wrong; whether his psychology/sociology/history/politics is any better is an entirely separate…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 30, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXX)

“Yet each favor and handout and protection of vested interests shifts the direction of capital and labor artificially, resulting in over-investment in, say, mortgaged houses, or an over-investment in corruption.” (Deirdre N. McCloskey)

The question of corruption comes well… pic.twitter.com/Llns4g1tL9

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 30, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXIX)

“When the British colonial government in India tried to control the cobra population they ended up with more snakes than they started.” (Creative Deduction)

While the colonial government may have had problems with cobras, the practical application of trivial psychology had… pic.twitter.com/GRuv0W2Hrp

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 29, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXVIII)

“Calling Keynes, 'too stupid for algebra'? He got a B.A. in mathematics from Cambridge University where he was 12th best student ('wrangler') is his class.” (joel bernard)

This only proves that Cambridge University's mathematical competence was already at zero before Keynes was… pic.twitter.com/ZLl1sy6N8Z

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 29, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXVII)

“Why is all of the sociology being done by economics professors and why are the economic science journals filled with sociology? ” (TakingHayekSeriously, quoted by Nikolai Rostov)

From the beginning, economists didn't get the difference between science/ politics and economics/…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 28, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Employment (XXXVIII)

 

“A few days ago, I responded to florianederer on James Buchanan and his minimum wage take by pointing out an earlier paper of Buchanan in the AER. I re-read it with more details and I think its fun. Its core question is simple: what happens when inputs with different opportunity… pic.twitter.com/6qqKV5UohC

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 28, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Money (CXLXVI)

“Economists Ignore One of Capitalism's Biggest Problems: Banks Create Money out of Nothing.” (Steve Keen)

Steve Keen has never had any idea of the difference between transaction money and money as a store of value. He had no idea of economics in general, and the Theory of Money,… pic.twitter.com/bq7NecWWmU

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 27, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXVI)

“The damage that economics inflicted on the other social sciences. This guy won a Nobel Prize in economics.” (Pablo Bortz)

Gary Becker never understood profit and, as a logical consequence, how the economic system works. That's disqualifying. Even worse, he started talking about… pic.twitter.com/piyEeODjzQ

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 27, 2026

 

For more about scientific imperialism, see AXECquery.

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXXV)

“Joan Robinson and I are similar in that we stress the role of uncertainty, the role of capital as heterogeneous, and the absence of a coordinating equilibrium; but she is from Cambridge, and I am not, she is a follower of Keynes and I am not; and most fortunately, she is a woman… pic.twitter.com/PrgFXpnjTl

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 26, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Adam Smith (XC)

“Reading guides, lesson plans, bellringers, and full topic toolkits on trade, prices, and the invisible hand — everything you need to bring Adam Smith into class next week.” (Econlib)

Adam Smith was not an original thinker, not a scientist, not an economist; he was a populist… pic.twitter.com/UPzRK686Qu

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 26, 2026

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXXIV)

“The neoliberal playbook rests on the core ideas taught in mainstream Econ 101 textbooks. Economist ProfSteveKeen dismantles them.” (Evonomics)

Debunking economics is the easy part. However: “The problem is not just to say that something might be wrong, but to replace it by… pic.twitter.com/XiZnUtoMzP

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 26, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXXII)

“I am once again asking you guys to read Baumol's 'Marx and the Iron Law of Wages'.” (Jules)

According to the axiomatically correct macroeconomic Law of Supply and Demand, the real wage W/P in the elementary production-consumption economy ⇓ moves with the productivity R and… pic.twitter.com/A0v3YRiWnY

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 26, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXXI)

“How are prices determined? While I slept, Claude made me 'History of economic thought since Aristotle.' I asked it to use my favourite textbook (Blaug, Economic Theory in retrospect). The result will astonish of you. Even top economists here will learn something, I promise.”… pic.twitter.com/0uPMqFB5W9

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 25, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXV)

“MILEI: ‘CAPITALISM IS THE SYSTEM THAT GOD ESTABLISHED’” (Ignorance)

Over God is mathematics, and either God is too stupid for it, or everything has been messed up by religious people.

The major approaches (Walrasianism, Keynesianism, Marxianism, Austrianism, and their…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 24, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXIV)

“Milton Friedman explains how affirmative action can’t eradicate prejudice and argues that society can make better progress by understanding human nature.” (Students for Liberty)

From the beginning, economists didn't get the difference between science/politics and economics/…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 24, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXIII)

“Ultimately, the struggle to achieve and preserve freedom must take place in the habits and minds of men.” (Walter Williams)

To explain how the economic system works is the task of economics. Economists have failed at this task.

Low-IQ economists are unable to realize that NO…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 24, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXII)

“To command consumers by law, to force them to buy only in the national market, is to infringe on their freedom and to forbid them an activity, trade, that is in no way intrinsically immoral; in a word, it is to do them an injustice.” (Frédéric Bastiat, quoted by Foundation for…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 23, 2026

Occasional X: Economics and math ― they just can't get it together (XIV)

“But eventually the math became the master rather than the servant. Assumptions about perfectly rational people, equilibrium, efficient markets, and simplified human behavior persisted partly because adding more of the messy reality of how humans and economies actually work makes… pic.twitter.com/8NN052fXuY

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 23, 2026

Occasional X: AI — boosting scientific competence in economics (XVIII) / Axiomatization

“A very rudimentary first draft of my planned monograph on marginalism, detailing the origins of marginal analysis, its evolution, criticisms and so on. ” (Nikolai Rostov)

Marginalism is the worst example of scientific failure.

For over 200 years, economics has said it is a… pic.twitter.com/IVE9CwV9Gm

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 23, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXI)

“My ideology: …” (Matias)

Economics has been failed/fake science since the Founding Fathers. It has defined itself as a social science and accordingly has been based on subjective/behavioral assumptions/axioms. This is the methodological ur-mistake.

The major approaches… pic.twitter.com/fGHdFsBqxy

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 22, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLX)

“According to Rothbard, taxation is theft: So, T>0 is theft.” (Shahin Ashkiani)

Not true.

The simplified national accounts below (AXEC213 ⇓) show two economies, one (0) without tax, and one (1) with tax.

In (0), the workers spend their entire wage income from the business… pic.twitter.com/vv3AAEkPPp

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 22, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCXCIV)

“We are technocrats who focus on efficiency. We get little training about the ends of economics, on the meaning of well-being-welfare economics has long since vanished from the curriculum-or on what philosophers say about equality. When pressed, we usually fall back on an… pic.twitter.com/FqFI1WxBaU

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 22, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Austrianism (CXXXI)

“There is a very positive review of my new book, 'Liberty and the History of Economic Ideas: From the Ancients to the Austrian Economists,' …” (Richard Ebeling)

The History of Economic Thought is the history of scientific failure. The only thing you can learn from this is how…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 20, 2026

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXXIII)

“I am BEGGING my fellow political scientist to stop pretending we know anything about economics.” (Samuel Watling)

Economics has been failed/fake science since the Founding Fathers. It has defined itself as a social science and accordingly has been based on subjective/behavioral… pic.twitter.com/yRyLO5aerQ

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 20, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXX)

“This is one of the greatest books in Economics of all time. Frank Knight was a genius, a man of immense tact and foresight, a duello with a golden gun, and so on. I shall summarise only his most famous chapter, the distinction between risk and uncertainty.” (Nikolai Rostov)… pic.twitter.com/wEUBMbrzGm

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 20, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXIX)

“Repeat with me, kids. If you want to learn real economics, you must repeat the sacred texts. Sing with me: Public sector deficit = private sector surplus.” (Nikolai Rostov)

False! Sing with me: public sector deficit = business sector profit.

The free-market economy runs on…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 19, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Austrianism (CXXX)

“Much of the foundational *premises* we employ in a model (e.g. “profit maximisation”) are not testable in the strict sense because they reflect tendencies, not invariably correct truths. … So from certain behaviours of human action (with a combination of a priori and a… pic.twitter.com/la8QgUVGLb

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 19, 2026

Occasional X: AI — boosting scientific competence in economics (XVII) / Axiomatization

“Fair enough, but IMHO, ML isn't even trying to become a new paradigm. It's a toolkit that improves prediction, estimation and heterogeneity analysis, which makes it a method for testing theories, not a theory itself.” (Máximo)

As I said: “As long as Machine Learning (ML) has…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 19, 2026

Occasional X: AI — boosting scientific competence in economics (XVI) / Axiomatization

“If you're studying economics or are interested in the intersection between Econometrics/Causal Inference and Machine Learning, this paper by Susan Athey is required reading.” (Máximo)

As long as Machine Learning (ML) has not figured out that
(i) legacy economics is…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 19, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXVIII)

“What is the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle and why is it important today?” (In Gold We Trust)

Austrianism has always been failed/fake science. It has been refuted and replaced by the following.

The foundational error of legacy economics consists of the fact that the… pic.twitter.com/aayOLdfJNk

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 19, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLIX)

“Hayek was wrong, wrong, wrong. He predicated serfdom; we got the golden age of democracy.” (Tony Annett)

Serfdom and democracy are only indirectly related to economics proper.

Friedrich Hayek never understood profit and, by logical consequence, how the economic system works.…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 18, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Austrianism (CXXIX)

“Learn Austrian Economics in one X post: 1. Humans act. Every choice a person makes traces back to an incentive, a trade-off, a cost weighed against a benefit. Remove the incentive and the action stops. Distort the incentive and the action warps.” (Handre)

That's trivial…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 17, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCXCIII)

“The true task of economics… is to make the logic of things heard in the midst of the passions and interests of public life, to bring to light inconvenient facts and relationships, to weigh everything and assign it due place, to prick bubbles and expose illusions and confusions,… pic.twitter.com/Y4WHUUhSLs

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 16, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCXCII)

“When I say that economics isn't a real science, it's not just because economics cannot achieve the same rigour of proof as the hard sciences. … Students ought to know that when they enrol in an undergraduate economics degree, they are more likely to learn theories dreamed up… pic.twitter.com/aUm2cH59WJ

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 14, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Profit (CLXVI)

“John Maynard Keynes watched the Great Depression and concluded that economies collapse because people hoard money instead of spending it, and that government must step in as the 'spender of last resort.' The story sounds compassionate, but the math is disastrous.” (Handre)

The… pic.twitter.com/X6DMoMWhbB

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 14, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLVIII)

 

“Milton Friedman earned $500,000+ in consulting fees advising Reagan and Thatcher on how to run trillion-dollar economies. He walked into a room with one prop and dismantled everything you think you know about poverty, immigration, and government in fifty minutes flat. The prop… pic.twitter.com/iS7E3Bhcj5

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 12, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Money (CXLXV)

“Also hard for MV=PY when there is zero supply of the unit of account. What determines Livre prices?” (John Cochrane)

Livre prices are determined in line 9 of the table below (⇓ AXEC237b). The average stock of fiat transaction money M is determined in line 16. It increases with… pic.twitter.com/t7Srs15QCi

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 11, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCXCI)

“How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity, by Andrew Leigh” (From Greg Mankiw's Reading List)

Dear Freshmen,

Economics does NOT explain the world. Economists have always been self-hypnotizers.

Take the book's Kindle version and search for profit. Some… pic.twitter.com/X2g8sPqoh3

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 10, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLVII)

 

“Karl Marx gave humanity its most murderous idea: that human suffering stems not from scarcity and the human condition, but from private property itself. This bearded parasite—who never worked a day in his life and lived off Engels' textile fortune—convinced generations that…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 10, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCXC)

“Meanwhile on Chinese TV, they're explaining why America's economics Nobel Prizes don't add up to anything.” (Kathleen Tyson)

Prizes are often not based on true merit. Like the Oscars, they are mainly a marketing/PR instrument. Honoring the look-alike happens in all walks of… pic.twitter.com/P5CzaSLmqY

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 9, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLVI)

“Homero Cuevas used to say in Principles of Economics class that Sraffa began writing this book in 1927 and finally published it in 1960. 33 years. Original length in English: 99 pages. He figured out the average: 3 pages per year.” (Edwin López Rivera)

For the record:

Piero…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 9, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Marx (LXII)

Marx's economic theory belongs to the scientific sphere and has to be refuted according to scientific methodology. Because Marx got the foundational concept of economics —profit— wrong, his remaining communicative contributions reduce to psycho-social-political-philosophical…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 9, 2026

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXXII)

“Economist DJSnower argues that neoclassical and behavioral economics are fundamentally flawed because they are built on the wrong model of human behavior. In the 16th century, the basic premises underlying our understanding of astronomy shifted dramatically. This was the… pic.twitter.com/OHCkzkcmOe

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 9, 2026

Occasional X: Time to get the axioms of economics right (VIII)

“Contrary to popular belief, Austrian school economics is not an a priori science.” (Glyph)

“The core foundational principle of the Austrian School of Economics is the action axiom, which states that human behavior is purposeful.

The Action Axiom

Definition: People consciously…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 9, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Exploitation (I)

“A reminder that if unions aren’t raising productivity, they’re unable to significantly boost wages without resorting to tactics that shield their members from competition (from, for instance, foreign workers or automation) but impose costs on everyone else …” (Chris Freiman)… pic.twitter.com/EKnNypzyOl

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 8, 2026

For more about cross-over exploitation, see the AXECquery. 

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXXI)

“The point of the paper is that if we want economics to be a science, we have to recognize that it is not ok for macroeconomists to hole up in separate camps, one that supports its version of the geocentric model of the solar system and another that supports the heliocentric… pic.twitter.com/H3waMl57Nv

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 8, 2026

Occasional X: I=S ― the biggest idiocy in macroeconomics (IX)

“Keynes built his entire macroeconomic system on a single false premise: that saving and investment are separate, potentially divergent forces requiring government to reconcile them.” (Handre)

No, he didn't.

The formal core of the General Theory is given with: “Income = value… pic.twitter.com/kpi4NIN4mx

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 7, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCXLXXV)

“For Menger, Walras and his general equilibrium theory had more to do with mathematics and the study of formal abstract relations than with actual legitimate science—i.e. the study and explanation of actual cognitively endowed human agents, real ontological entities, causal…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 7, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXVII)

“In 2011 an economist who had watched Japan lose a decade sat down and said the West was walking into the same mistake, step by step.” (Mirren)

Economic policy has no valid scientific foundations. Psychological plausibility is not the same thing as scientific validity. However,…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 7, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXVIII)

Mr. Keynes does not understand what science is all about. He totally overlooks that, as a scientist, the economist has no mandate for political agenda-pushing. This has been known since the Founding Fathers.

“A scientific observer or reasoner, merely as such, is not an adviser… pic.twitter.com/3ruloBdd0Q

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 7, 2026

Occasional X: The futile attempt to recycle Austrianism (CXXVIII)

“So there is good reason to believe that the Austrian School will one day finally overtake the Neoclassicals and become the new mainstream in economics as well.” (Glyph)

The Austrian School is refuted on all counts. However, it could become mainstream when stupidity manages to…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 6, 2026

Occasional X: Paradigm Shift (CXX)

“And saying MMT economists should have put their theory into a DSGE model to evaluate it properly is pretty funny …” (Mr.Keynes)

For the record: (i) MMT is axiomatically false and refuted on all counts; (ii) DSGE has been axiomatically false since the invention of equilibrium… pic.twitter.com/Pv0i1Hb1M4

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 6, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLIV)

“Carl Menger did what no economist before him had managed: he located value inside the human mind rather than inside the object being traded. Vienna, 1871. His Principles of Economics landed quietly, then detonated slowly across the discipline. … Before Menger, economists…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 5, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Money (CXLXIV)

“A hundred million students learned that mechanism as the governor on money creation. Regulators switched it off six years ago and the money supply did not spiral, because the mechanism never bound. Canada dropped reserve requirements in 1992. The Bank of England stopped using… pic.twitter.com/acZGGFmnM7

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 5, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Profit (CLXV)

“The first part of Kalecki's argument is essentially an accounting identity. Investment and capitalist consumption generate profits within the capitalist sector, while government deficits and trade surpluses can provide additional demand from outside it. This doesn't mean…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 5, 2026

For more on accounting identity, see AXECquery. 

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLIII)

“Most economics PhD students graduate without ever taking a single class on the history of their own discipline. Allen Mendenhall finds that quietly alarming, and makes a case for why it should matter to all of us.” (Foundation for Economic Education)

The History of Economic…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 5, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXII)

“When I think of Behavioral Economics, I think of an economics that is open-minded. I think of a field that is open to the world of ideas outside our often narrow-minded profession.” (Remy Levin)

The Assistant Professor of Economics Remy Levin never understood profit and,… pic.twitter.com/C4DupstDIO

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 4, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXVII)

“People often do not sufficiently understand G.D.P. To discuss it. So, as a public favour, I have summarised the three different ways to calculate G.D.P. and their respective categories in depth and unambiguity.” (Nikolai Rostow)

Nikolai Rostow does not understand profit. That's… pic.twitter.com/uFzERNZV8U

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 4, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXVI)

“Fairness of Nobel Prize in Economics is being questioned： “China has the fastest sustained economic growth in world history that's lifted the most people out of poverty.” "And yet the Nobel Prize committee awarded it to an Indian guy for his work on poverty alleviation. And yet… pic.twitter.com/1sZPiq5LQx

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 4, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXV)

To explain how the economic system works is the task of economics. Economists have failed at this task. More specifically, both orthodox and heterodox economists have been scientifically incompetent since the time of the Founding Fathers.

Low-IQ economists are unable to realize…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 4, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXIV)

“The main reason socialism has always failed and caused misery and poverty is that equality of outcome is incompatible with the incentives a society needs to build, create, innovate and prosper.” (Michael Arouet)

To explain social behavior is the task of psychology, sociology,…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 3, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXIII)

“People think that the problem with academia is the lack of ideological diversity or just group diversity. The problem with academia is not that. Its rent-seeking and gatekeeping. ” (Vincent Geloso)

Economics claims to be science, but it is NOT. The major approaches… pic.twitter.com/a7bqDuyo7k

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 3, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Money (CXLXIII)

von Mises's monetary theory has always been false.

For the axiomatically correct approach, see the working paper ⇒
The Dark-Matter Theory of Fiat Moneyhttps://t.co/x4NOcsCBMS

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 3, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Science (CCCLXXXII)

“When is an economist not an economist?” (FT)

The History of Economic Thought is the history of scientific failure.

Economics has been failed/fake science since the founding fathers. It has defined itself as a social science and accordingly has been based on…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 3, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLXI)

“Imagine you’re an economist working for Amazon, using game theory to design online markets. Now imagine some English professor at a liberal arts college shouts at you that your whole field is 'fake' because you haven’t read Marx.” (Kristian Niemietz)

The whole field is… pic.twitter.com/4kS8GC6dhL

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 2, 2026

Occasional X: Economists’ eternal problem with methodology (XVI)

“From a wonderful lecture by Richard Ebeling on methodological foundations of Austrian economics. Note a precondition of choice is uncertainty and time, and thus imagination.” (Mr.Keynes)

Since J. S. Mill, economists have tried to give economics a special status. Mill called…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 2, 2026

Occasional X: Clueless economists / Equilibrium (VI)

“Economics has always been preoccupied with equilibrium. That's like analyzing how a car works by studying a parked vehicle.” (Jay Forrester)

Each paper/book that has the word equilibrium in the title/abstract/blurb can be thrown into the wastepaper basket without reading it.… pic.twitter.com/VeLqEdQX24

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 2, 2026

Occasional X: How it works (DXVI)

“US TREASURY JUST CONFESSED: THE DEBT CAN’T BE PAID. Scott Bessent just said the quiet part out loud: 'The only option left is to grow out of it.'” (Stern Drew)

First, that the public debt is ever paid back has always been a silly prejudice. The debt is eternal and yields…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 1, 2026

Occasional X: Discrete methodology

There seem to be two Pi: a mathematical and a physical. If there is the Planck minimum length and the circle can only be approximated with orthogonal horizontal-vertical steps, then physical Pi is 4 ⇓. As I recall, physical Pi has already been measured by Miles Mathis. It seems… pic.twitter.com/j2wJV2be2a

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 1, 2026

Occasional X: The foul spirit of political economics (CCCLX)

“Milton Friedman had a good answer to this, seventy years ago: the billiard player does not solve the differential equations for the trajectory of the ball, yet he plays as if he did, and using physics is the best way to predict his shots.” (Luis Garicano, quoted by Shahin…

— AXEC (@EgmontHandtke) September 1, 2026