On the Nexus of Economic Knowledge Production and Expertise in Policymaking

Abstract

Economists and economic knowledge are crucial for policymaking in modern societies. The role of economists relies on a production of economic knowledge that follows the idea of value-free and objective explanation and prediction of economic phenomena within a specific methodology. Conducting a critical discourse analysis of interviews on the YouTube channel "Jung & Naiv" with German economists, holding both a professorship in academia and a position in policy advisory, we analyze the interplay between economic knowledge production and economic expertise. The majority of economists follow the philosophical understanding of a closed-system ontology, instrumentalism, the falsification of mathematical models, and political neutrality, comprising a technical understanding of economic expertise. This implies the view that not just the solutions for but also the definition of political problems should shift from democratically legitimized institutions towards experts bodies, reflecting an economists’ self-image as expertocrats.