What must the peer pressure be like, within a profession that keeps everyone in line with set of ideas, models, policies and practices known to be based on false assumptions, and to have detrimental effects on millions of lives?

Economist Lachlan Kerwood-McCall has a great take on this. Using the example of the recent review of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA, Australia's central bank), Lachlan gives us some insights on how mainstream economists navigate the cognitive dissonance generated when using mainstream economics. And why is monetary policy is like "trying to do neurosurgery with a pointy rock?"

Note: This is the first of two parts of our conversation with economist Lachlan Kerwood-McCall, which took place prior to the announcement of a new governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Michele Bullock, who will take over from Philip Lowe on 18 September, 2023. The underlying issues remain the same despite the change of personnel.

Credits

blog entry by Professor Bill Mitchell
"RBA Review Report ignores the real questions and proposes to entrench the failed Groupthink"

The New Monetary Policy: Reimagining Demand Management and Price Stability in the 21st Century
by Nathan Tankus

Between The Lines, ABC RN
Tom Switzer interviews past federal treasurer, Peter Costello

Theme Music
Pleading Ignorance, by Ed Kuepper, from the album Starstruck.

Additional Audio
Too Many Things, by Ed Kuepper, from the album Starstruck.