Does Learning Economics Radicalize the Right?

the stereotype he presents are libertarians...quite different than the RNC, George Bush, etc.

Yet one gets the impression that the general public, or more specifically the portion of the left with a general knowledge of politics, feels that most economists have views barely distinguishable from yours. Why is that?

I suspect that among economists libertarians form a disproportionate share of public intellectuals or popularizers. Also, they're the most right-wing (or least left-wing) of the social sciences, so they're pretty much the only ones the right can draw from, resulting in the field as a whole appearing right-wing especially to other academics.

Economies are inherently unstable. The aggregate economy seeks efficiency at the expense of individual efficiency, the two are always in contradiction.

Historically, and anciently, government evolved as various groups tried to use government to resolve the instability conundrum. This history of using government to participate in the economy is built in, cannot be undone.

Historical economists, I suspect, are all too aware of this problem. Each layer of government, in part, is designed to hedge against some other previous layer of government.

What we need are economists who understand cumbersome markets, not free markets. Milton gave up, so, Arnold, if you cannot solve the conundrum, you are in good company.

Matt, would you care to give a citation for your remarks on instability/efficiency or for Milton Friedman "giving up"?