ABSTRACT
A large number of our fellow economists profess themselves enamored of what they choose to call “the new classical economics.” Supply-side economics, monetarism, and rational expectations all offer themselves as variants of this new classicism, by which they ultimately mean “a return to the market.” Each offers the economist a rationalization for avoiding his basic responsibility to participate in the continuing national debate about the emergent value premises reflected by any ongoing economy. While “the economist qua economist” has no greater individual say in this debate than other participants, economists do presumably have some expertise, which they therefore have an obligation to bring to bear on the debate. Economists are then like physicians who presumably cannot make life or death decisions for their patients, but who surely command technical information—unlike other participants in the discussion—which they have an obligation to present.
