Season 7 - Episode 2 - Robert Lucas Jr

Economics In Ten

Abraham Lincoln once said “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” This quote has been wheeled out to the point of cliche but we believe it epitomises the work of Nobel Prize winning economist Robert E Lucas Jr. The (perhaps reluctant?) leader of the New Classical school of economics, he made his name with his deceptively simple analysis of "rational expectations" and was lauded (at least by some) for putting Keynesianism to the sword after its long period of ascendancy in the post-war era. In this second episode of Season Seven your friendly neighbourhood economists, Pete and Gav explore his life and ideas and explain the various economic phenomena that have Lucas in their name - his wedge, paradox and most famously his "Lucas critique". Ardent fans will be delighted by our usual quiz, which this time is based around the number 50, as this is the fiftieth episode of our show. You will also be the grateful recipients of a poem and more book recommendations than you can shake a stick at! Technical support as always comes from our homeboy Nic.