What Can Economists Agree on These Days?

""The Larry Summers era is over," Politico proclaimed, after the House Oversight Committee released correspondence from Jeffrey Epstein's estate attributed to the veteran Harvard economist Lawrence Summers. That framing seemed a bit over the top. It is true, though, that, in the thirty-plus years that I've been writing about the economy and economic policy, Summers has been pretty much a constant presence."

"A recently published collection of essays, " The London Consensus," with the ambitious subtitle "Economic Principles for the 21st Century," offers a helpful starting point. The book, which grew out of a conference held at the London School of Economics and Political Science a couple of years back, addresses a range of global issues, including trade, growth, macroeconomic stability, and inequality."

The London Consensus presents a framework for rethinking economic policy in an era marked by inequality, populism, and political crisis. The collection grew out of a London School of Economics conference and covers trade, growth, macroeconomic stability, and inequality. Editors include Tim Besley, Irene Bucelli, and Andrés Velasco, a former Chilean finance minister. The essays revisit the legacy of the Washington Consensus and analyze how economic thinking and policy prescriptions have shifted since the 1990s. The volume aims to offer practical principles for global economic agencies and policymakers confronting fractured political landscapes and growing social disparities.

Read at The New Yorker