Why No Big Credentials

Why don’t the people behind this website have bigger credentials? Don’t you need the biggest and best credentials to come up with truly revolutionary ideas in economics?

Well, as has so often been seen in history, when a major change is a foot, the people with the biggest credentials are usually on the wrong side of that change. Whether it be political change, such as from monarchy to democracy, or changes in scientific understanding, those with the biggest credentials often stood foursquare in opposition to any change in politics or in the current way of thinking about the world.

And that makes lots of sense because the people with the biggest credentials usually have a lot at stake in preserving the status quo that has given them those great credentials.

So, is the case with the rather enormous changes we are proposing for economic thought? It won’t garner much support from those with the greatest credentials. They have a lot to lose.

The theory of continental drift in geology is an excellent example. It was strongly opposed by those with the biggest credentials. But, over time as more and more evidence started to trickle in supporting the theory of continental drift, and as it was increasingly clear the old theories for geological changes didn’t work, a new generation of geologists increasingly warmed up to the idea and it became widely accepted.

The same is true with economics and the ideas discussed in this website.

That is also why the authors of this site don’t have enormous credentials. In one sense, they couldn’t. It would be impossible to gain those credentials and at the same time be able to think in such a way that is so opposed to current economic thinking.

That doesn’t mean the authors don’t have credentials. Dr. David Wiedemer holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is both knowledgeable of economics and can speak quite intelligently about economic theory. His economics professors range from his major professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, to professors who have taught at Harvard and another who won the Nobel Prize in economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

So, the knowledge that modern economics credentials convey is with us. What’s missing is the steadfast attachment to the current way of thinking about economics.

That’s also why this website is not affiliated with a highly credentialed economics institute or university. Admittedly, it won’t add to their credentials or prestige. Quite the opposite—it would likely be a source of ridicule at first. Like the theory of continental drift.

However, over time, all that will change. Like continental drift, the theories that work, EVENTUALLY tend to push out the theories that don’t.

And, in this case, they could change much more quickly. Not only are we more adept than Alfred Wegener (the father of continental drift) at getting our ideas out with the help of modern technology, such as the Internet and video production, but the economics profession is shortly in store for a massive change from the Aftershock.

As we discussed in the productivity website, the silver lining to the Aftershock is that it will put tremendous pressure on groups opposed to productivity change, to make those changes. In many cases, the groups opposed to change will be practically eliminated by the Aftershock.

So, too with economics. The groups who so strongly support the status quo thinking will be thoroughly discredited. Many, if not most, will lose their jobs or retire.

That clears the slate. In addition, the painful economic conditions of the Aftershock will make new theories of economics that truly work be in strong demand.

The tables will turn—currently, people who support the status quo get massive support and those few who support alternative thinking are criticized or ignored. In the Aftershock, people who support the status quo will be massively criticized because the situation will be so painful. People who have new economics ideas will be more strongly encouraged. Those new ideas that are most workable and sensible will, over time, win out in that environment.

So, although it would be nice to have the biggest and best credentials behind this website, the reality is that this website would not be created if it had that support. We have all the economics credentials we need to intelligently discuss economics. We just don’t have the credentials that would lend it status in the current economic environment.

And that is the way it has always been for fundamentally new ideas. History is simply repeating itself.