Economic Polemic Archives -

Economic Polemic, Featured Articles, Political Commentary, Public Policy Reform

Everything You’ve Been Told About Inequality Is Wrong

adam@theschism.org / August 18, 2026

Critics of inequality are often accused of pursuing equality of outcome. But what if that criticism misunderstands the argument entirely? This article argues that inequality is not merely a record of past economic performance, but a causal factor that shapes future opportunity, entrepreneurship, social mobility and economic growth. Once inequality is understood as part of the machinery of the economy rather than a scoreboard, the debate shifts from redistribution toward optimisation.

Economic Polemic, Featured Articles, Political Commentary

Economics: from Ideology to Optimisation

adam@theschism.org / August 18, 2026

Drawing lessons from meteorology and medicine, this article argues that economics should evolve from ideological debate toward evidence-based optimisation. Rather than asking whether taxation, inequality, or redistribution are inherently good or bad, economists should focus on identifying the policy settings that best achieve society’s chosen objectives.

Economic Polemic, Economics Papers, Featured Articles

The Missing Dynamics in Macroeconomics

adam@theschism.org / August 8, 2026

Modern macroeconomics often begins with an assumption of general equilibrium and explains deviations through exogenous shocks. But what if this approach is missing a more fundamental source of macroeconomic motion? Using the analogy of ocean currents, this essay argues that local equilibrium conditions may be only part of the story. The most important macroeconomic behaviours may emerge from dynamic flows generated by differences between heterogeneous agents, markets and industries. Rather than viewing the economy as a system repeatedly disturbed by shocks, perhaps we should see it as a system continuously shaped by endogenous flows.

Economic Polemic, Featured Articles, Philosophical Reflection, Societal Collapse Discourse

Economics fails the Philosophy of Science Test

adam@theschism.org / August 1, 2026

Modern macroeconomics is built upon Homo Economicus: a rational, utility-maximising agent that sits at the centre of theories of growth, equilibrium and welfare. Yet psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology and behavioural economics increasingly suggest that no such cognitive architecture exists. This essay argues that economics has become an intellectual oxbow lake, isolated from the scientific discoveries that should have forced a revision of its foundations.

Economic Polemic, Featured Articles, Public Policy Reform, Societal Collapse Discourse

Stagflation Revisited in 2026:

adam@theschism.org / February 21, 2026

Why inflation since 2020 resists rate hikes—and how capital markets, profit margins, and policy errors risk a modern return to stagflation.

Economic Polemic, Polemic & Public Letters, Societal Collapse Discourse

Stagflation will return … especially if we try to prevent it!

adam@theschism.org / March 14, 2023

Inflationary pressures have returned to the global economy, and reserve banks the world over are reacting with the obligatory knee-jerk – raising interest rates. After all, tightening monetary policy always beats inflation … doesn’t it??

Economic Polemic, Polemic & Public Letters, Public Policy Reform

Make Society Great Again

adam@theschism.org / April 4, 2020

The current pandemic and financial meltdown reinforces the urgent need for Australia to abandon the planned and legislated Stage 3 tax cuts, and instead pursue policies that increase real wages and increase the progressivity of the taxation system. Without this, we will continue to lurch from one catastrophe to another.