Here is a list of my professional colleagues who have learned nothing in the last 5 years. That is no surprise because they didn’t learn very much before that about how the monetary system works anyway. If their ideas were to be implemented I would guess that very few of them would publicly recant and admit they were wrong. They would obfuscate, deny, misconstrue but they wouldn’t admit they were wrong. At least prospective students have a good list of departments to avoid should they wish to study economics in the US. Keep it handy for future reference. Back in February 2010, there was a letter by 20 economists supporting the Tory proposals for fiscal austerity published in the Sunday Times. It was an unashamed attempt to influence the result of the May 2010 election. A week later 60 economists wrote that the 20 were nuts. It seems that some of the 20 rats have now deserted the Tory ship but won’t really tell us why.