Review of Meghnad Desai’s book ‘Hubris: why economists failed to predict the crisis and how to avoid the next one’. 2015

“The idea of equilibrium is a dangerous delusion.. The accuracy of his pessimistic conclusion remains to be seen.”

Stewart Lansley,  visiting fellow in the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research, University of Bristol
THE (Times Higher Education), 28 May 2015

“…this book sets out to emphasise the importance of economic history in our understanding of the economic crisis of 2008 and its aftermath.

“Meghnad Desai, the economist and Labour peer (in the UK’s House of Lords), shows that for much of the past two centuries, economic theory has been built around the idea that, with a hands-off state, economies have an inbuilt tendency to equilibrium and steadiness.”

However “the idea of automatic equilibrium is a dangerous delusion. Disequilibrium, not equilibrium, is the natural order.

“Desai is right to restate the importance of natural turbulence and its causes. The accuracy of his somewhat pessimistic conclusion – that the world is at the beginning of a new long wave downturn – remains to be seen.”

Access the full review here: Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One, by Meghnad Desai

Link to our overview of Lord Desai’s book here

Lord Desai discussed his book at a public lecture held at the LSE, Aldwych, London on 27 May from 6:30pm to 8pm. He was joined by Stephen King, Group Chief Economist at HSBC. Details here: Lord Desai public lecture

A Podcast of the event is available here