So economics teaching isn't the problem? | 29 comments (29 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

An economist (4.00 / 3)

Légion d'honneur : Piketty rejette le fait du prince - Libération		Légion d'Honneur: Piketty rejects the presidential fiat - Libération
L'économiste ne veut pas de la Légion d'honneur. Très proche du PS pendant la campagne, il a depuis pris ses distances avec le pouvoir en place.		The economist does not want the Légion d'Honneur. Very close to the PS during the campaign, he has since distanced himself from the powers that be.
Un «Je refuse» sur l'air de «J'accuse». Jeudi, l'économiste français Thomas Piketty, chroniqueur à Libération et dont Le Capital du XXIe siècle s'est écoulé à 1,5 million d'exemplaires, s'imposant dans de nombreux pays comme un ouvrage de référence sur le processus d'accroissement des inégalités - et que notre ministre des Comptes publics devait enfin lire pendant la trêve des confiseurs -, a indiqué jeudi à l'AFP «refuser [sa] nomination» comme chevalier dans la dernière promotion de la Légion d'honneur, dévoilée quelques heures plus tôt.		An "I refuse" to the tune of "J'accuse". On Thursday, the French economist Thomas Piketty, columnist at Libération, whose Capital in the twenty-first century has sold 1.5 million copies, winning a place in many countries as a reference book on the process of the increase in inequality - that our Minister of Public Accounts was supposed to read during the holidays - told AFP on Thursday he "refused [his] appointment" as a Chevalier in the latest Légion d'Honneur list, made public a few hours earlier.
em>«Je ne pense pas que ce soit le rôle d'un gouvernement de décider qui est honorable», a dénoncé Piketty, paraphrasant Edmond Maire, avant d'inviter l'exécutif à «se consacrer à la relance de la croissance en France et en Europe.» Manière de brocarder la touche ancien-Régime de cette cuvée de gratification où se mêle chaque année légitimité et incongruité, le tout à la discrétion d'une monarchie républicaine notabilisée. ...		"I do not think it is the role of government to decide who is honourable" , denounced Piketty, paraphrasing Edmond Maire, before inviting the executive to "devote itself to stimulating growth in France and Europe." Way to ridicule the ancien-régime touch of this vintage gratification, in which every year legitimacy and incongruity get mixed, all at the discretion of a notabilised republican monarchy. ...
Le refus de Piketty de laisser le pouvoir en place accrocher une rosette à sa boutonnière n'est pas si surprenant. Un temps proche des sphères socialistes, notamment durant la dernière présidentielle, l'économiste, déjà reconnu mais pas encore star, avait milité en faveur d'une réforme fiscale d'envergure avec une plus grande progressivité de l'impôt. Mais, sous la férule de l'alors ministre du Budget, Jérôme Cahuzac, et sans que François Hollande n'y trouve à redire, seul un mini ajustement de la fiscalité du capital sur celle du travail a péniblement vu le jour. Loin de l'ambition affichée quelques mois plus tôt d'estrades en plateaux télé par le candidat à la rose.		Piketty's refusal to let the powers that be pin a rosette to his lapel is not so surprising. For a time close to socialist circles, especially during the last presidential election, the economist, already recognized but not yet a star, had argued for a wide-ranging tax reform with a greater progressivity. But under the rule of the then budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac, and without Hollande finding fault, only a mini adjustment of taxation of capital over that of labour painfully emerged. Far from the ambition of a few months earlier on the hustings and the TV shows by the PS candidate.
Dès lors, le conseiller officieux, qui dénonce aussi le déséquilibre de la politique de l'offre engagée et le trop peu de soutien de la demande, s'est fait le procureur intransigeant des petits renoncements et des grandes lâchetés économiques du quinquennat hollandais.		From then on, the unofficial adviser, who also criticized the imbalance of the supply-side policy embarked on with too little support for demand, became the uncompromising prosecutor of the small renunciations and the major economic cowardice of the Hollande mandate.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Jan 1st, 2015 at 12:58:25 PM EST

Re: An economist (none / 0)

That's always a tough one. His position is admirable and will win him respect in refusing recognition from a government which ignores his economic expertise.

Yet you could equally charge that the honour of Chevalier gives him a pedestal of greater authority from which to further criticize the government.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jan 1st, 2015 at 01:30:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: An economist (4.00 / 4)

With a million and a half books sold and the founding of the Paris School of Economics to his credit, he can afford to pass.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Jan 1st, 2015 at 04:09:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: An economist (4.00 / 4)

The Legion of Honour doesn't have much prestige these days, despite it having been created by Napoleon; neither does the other (civilian) decoration, the National Order of Merit. Anecdote: the National Order of Merit was refused by Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, who reportedly said: "I have no merit and I ain't taking orders from nobody..."

by Bernard (bernard) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2015 at 02:57:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

So economics teaching isn't the problem? | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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