Last week, the economics profession lost one of its leading lights — Harvard professor Alberto Alesina. The Italian economist, who died of a heart attack at age 63, helped revolutionize the field of political economy.
Economists are often criticized for ignoring the political aspects of their theories. At least since the end of World War II, economists have generally seen their role as offering expert advice to wise technocratic leaders — “whispering in the ears of princes.” But in the real world, leaders with both the wisdom to listen to academic experts and the power to implement any much less all of their recommendations are quite rare; more often, the political world is a tangle of interest groups, culture wars, partisan bickering and electoral expediency.
Source: Racism Is the Biggest Reason U.S. Safety Net Is So Weak – Bloomberg