Relation to democracy
In an econocracy politicians prioritise management of the economy and subordinate other policy areas to economic considerations. The perceived competency on the economy of political parties is in turn a key indicator of electoral success. In an econocracy a broad range of activities from the arts, education, health and literature are justified as valuable because they contribute positively to the economy.
Econocracy undermines participatory and deliberative democracy because it delegates decision-making to economic experts and because public discourse is jargon-heavy and expert-led. For example, in the UK, only 12% of respondents in a YouGov poll believe that politicians and the media talk about economics in a way that is accessible. [3] In another poll, less than 40% of respondents could correctly identify the definitions of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and of quantitative easing, given a list of possible answers. [4]
Relevant to econocracy, globally economics is dominated by a particular perspective often called neoclassical economics. The pluralism in economics movement has highlighted the narrowness of much teaching and research in economics and sought to demonstrate how this lack of intellectual diversity has harmful effects on democracy and social welfare. Many economists reject this claim and seek to demonstrate the intellectual diversity within economics. [5]
Econocracy may be compatible with forms of procedural democracy provided citizens have the requisite level of economic knowledge to make an informed choice about which political parties or individuals best represent their economic interests. The quality of public discourse and public education on economics are important factors in whether this criterion is met.
Econocracy and elites
The concept of a ‘new professional econocracy’ has been used to describe the increasing proportion of leaders in society who have educational or professional experiences of economics or related disciplines such as accounting and business studies. [6] Econocracy, it is argued, advantages contemporary elites in several ways. First, it links disparate elite sectors and institutions together by providing a common ideology, language and policy framework. Second, it operates as a form of governmentality, providing a system of tools, practices and mechanisms to effect a top-down ‘rule by numbers’. Finally, it enables elites to move across sectors and networks more easily. It also facilitates short-term gaming of systems and evasion of long-term accountability.
In terms of membership economics is narrow. For example, in the UK only 1 in 4 academic economists are women, and the ratio is similar for students. [7] A 2010 Royal Economic Society survey found that 82% of UK respondents were white. Furthermore, of 75 Nobel Prize winners in economics only two were not white and one was a woman. [8]
James McGill Buchanan Jr. was an American economist known for his work on public choice theory originally outlined in his most famous work, The Calculus of Consent, co-authored with Gordon Tullock in 1962. He continued to develop the theory, eventually receiving the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1986. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' and bureaucrats' self-interest, utility maximization, and other non-wealth-maximizing considerations affect their decision-making. He was a member of the Board of Advisors of The Independent Institute as well as of the Institute of Economic Affairs, a member of the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) and MPS president from 1984 to 1986, a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, and professor at George Mason University.
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. He is also a former member and chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his support for the Georgist public finance theory and for his critical view of the management of globalization, of laissez-faire economists, and of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Neoliberalism is both a political philosophy and a term used to signify the late-20th-century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is often used pejoratively. In scholarly use, the term is often left undefined or used to describe a multitude of phenomena. However, it is primarily employed to delineate the societal transformation resulting from market-based reforms.
Douglass Cecil North was an American economist known for his work in economic history. Along with Robert Fogel, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1993. In the words of the Nobel Committee, North and Fogel "renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change."
A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politically applied focus. The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report argues "that to be green, an economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness implies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a Just Transition to an economy that is low-carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive."
Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. Technocracy follows largely in the tradition of other meritocratic theories and assumes full state control over political and economic issues.
The Berkeley Mafia was the term given to a group of University of California-trained economists in Indonesia who were given technocratic positions under the Suharto dictatorship during the late 1960s. They were appointed in the early stages of the New Order administration. Their work focused on promoting free-market capitalism in Indonesia and reversing many of the progressive economic reforms that had been introduced by the Sukarno government. The economic system in place under the New Order regime was termed crony capitalism due to the vast corruption within the country throughout this period. The Berkeley Mafia, like the Suharto dictatorship itself, aligned with the United States during the Cold War.
Bruno S. Frey is a Swiss economist and visiting professor for Political Economy at the University of Basel. Frey's research topics include Political economy and Happiness economics, with his published work including concepts derived from Psychology, Sociology, Jurisprudence, History, Arts, and Theology.
Kamer Daron Acemoğlu is a Turkish-American economist of Armenian descent who has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1993, where he is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, and was named an Institute Professor at MIT in 2019. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 2005, and the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2024.
Ben Fine is Professor of Economics at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
In philosophy, political science and sociology, elite theory is a theory of the state that seeks to describe and explain power relationships in society. The theory posits that a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policymaking networks, holds the most power—and that this power is independent of democratic elections.
Mihir Rakshit is an Indian economist, known for his work on fiscal, monetary and other policy, especially issues that concern developing economies. Originally from Chittagong, which is now in Bangladesh, he did his graduation from Presidency College, Calcutta, post-graduation from the University of Calcutta and his PhD from London School of Economics. He taught at the departments of Economics of The University of Calcutta, The University of Burdwan, Presidency College Calcutta, and Indian Statistical Institute Calcutta, as faculty. He also taught at Delhi School of Economics and Erasmus University Rotterdam, as visiting faculty. He served the Reserve Bank of India for two terms as a member of its Central Board of Directors. He was director of the open access quarterly journal Money and Finance published by ICRA Limited from 1997 to July 2016.
Vivien A. Schmidt is an American academic of political science and international relations. At Boston University, she is the Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration Professor of International Relations in the Pardee School of Global Studies, and Professor of Political Science. She is known for her work on political economy, policy analysis, democratic theory, and new institutionalism. She is a 2018 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor.
Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confiscation, divorce or tort law. The term typically refers to redistribution on an economy-wide basis rather than between selected individuals.
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, first published in 2012, is a book by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. The book applies insights from institutional economics, development economics, and economic history to understand why nations develop differently, with some succeeding in the accumulation of power and prosperity and others failing, according to a wide range of historical case studies.
James Alan Robinson is a British-American economist and political scientist. He is the Rev. Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies and University Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy of the University of Chicago. At Harris, he also directs The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conficts. Robinson previously taught at Harvard University from 2004 to 2015.
Andrew Jonathan Hughes Hallett FRSE was a British economist. He was University Professor of Economics and Public Policy at George Mason University, Senior Research Fellow at Kings College and Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of St Andrews He was also a member of the Scottish Growth Commission.
The Econocracy: the perils of leaving economics to the experts is a 2017 book by Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins that argues that the United Kingdom has become an econocracy, a society in which improving the economy has become the main purpose of politics. They demonstrate how this undermines democracy, in turn increasing the power and authority of economists. The authors see this as societally damaging because of the problematic state of the discipline of economics.
Techno-populism is either a populism in favor of technocracy or a populism concerning certain technology – usually information technology – or any populist ideology conversed using digital media. It can be employed by single politicians or whole political movements respectively. Neighboring terms used in a similar way are technocratic populism, technological populism, and cyber-populism. Italy's Five Star Movement and France's La République En Marche! have been described as technopopulist political movements.
Dragoș Pîslaru is a Romanian economist and politician of REPER who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He was previously a member of USR PLUS/USR. He also held the position of Minister of Labor, Family, Social Protection and the Elderly in the government of Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș from 18 April 2016, until 4 January 2017.
