Politicians and economic experts : the limits of technocracy / Anna Killick.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Killick, Anna, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cross-cultural studies.

Public administration--Decision making.

Public administration.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (166 pages)

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne, England : Agenda Publishing, [2023]

Summary:

In recent years politics has seen an increasing role in economic policy-making for a technocracy of experts. How do politicians feel about this and how do they balance their political and ethical aims with economic expertise?.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Preface and acknowledgements

1 Do we need more economic experts?

The need for a new "technocracy"?

The need for politicians' perspectives on economic experts

The politicians in this book

Plan of the book

Part I Politicians' respect for economists and voters

2 Politicians' respect for economists

The "morality" of politicians' economic goals

One-quarter of politicians paying scant attention to economists

Respect for economic experts: perceptions of objectivity

The usefulness of economic experts

Declining respect for economists

Shouldering "responsibility"

Which economists are respected?

Conclusion

3 Politicians' relationships with voters

"Understandably" self-interested voters

Qualified judgements about voters' lack of economic understanding

The first part of responsiveness: listening to voters

The second part of responsiveness: "persuading"

Part II Ideological and national variations

4 The resurgent left's view of economists

The moral nature of left-wing politicians' economic goals

European confidence and American timidity

Attitudes to economists: centre-left "Keynesianism"

The far left's attention, to heterodox economists only

The left and calls for technocracy

5 Denmark and Germany: "home-grown" economists

Denmark: the Scandinavian welfare model

"Responsible" economic policies: Danish consensus

Danish attitudes to economists

Germany

"Responsible": ordoliberalism

Respect for ordoliberal economists

Responsiveness

Conclusion: the most respectful towards economists

6 France: pluralist economics and populist threat

Diverging ideas about what "responsible" economic ideas are

The left

The right

La République en Marche

Contestation.

Attitudes to economists

Relationship between responsibility and responsiveness

7 Inattentive Anglosphere right

Republican context

Republicans' communication with voters

Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Trump's trade policies

Republicans not respecting economists' authority: partisanship

British Conservatives

Conservatives' lack of normativity

Conservative respect for professional authority

8 Politicians and climate change economists

Contested and divergent ideas about the economics of the environment

Marginally affected by environmental concerns

Environmentally sustainable economic thinking

Socio-ecological restructuring

Productivists

De-growth supporters

The challenge of communicating

Conclusion: potential for a settled consensus on the environment?

Part III Educating voters

9 "Educative" politicians rather than technocracy

Respect for economic expertise

Diverging ideas at both politician and economist levels

Decline in the primacy of economics

How economic technocracy undermines representative democracy

Education: why politicians need to be the ones to do it

A blueprint for "educating": "it could have been worse"

"Starting where the voter is"

"Appealing to voters' intelligence"

Appendix: Research design and methods

References

Index.

Notes:

Description based on: online resource; title from pdf title page (ProQuest Ebook Central, viewed on April 12, 2023).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781788215671

1788215672

OCLC:

1349281412