Chris Hayes' Work Is Done Here

Many economics blogs were abuzz last week with comments on this discussion of Chris Hayes' Nation article on heterodox economics. I have already mentioned some of these discussions, but I thought I would do more to organize additional links. I think the following are some central questions in these discussions:

1. As a matter of the sociology of economics, are heterodox economists with worthwhile research programs being unjustly denied resources, graduate students, tenure, and publications in top-ranked journals?
2. Are heterodox economists developing ideas about economics that have not yet been adopted by mainstream economists?
3. Is this argument about something other than what policies economists should promote?

"Yes" is the correct answer to all three questions.

Anyways, contributors to Crooked Timber have commented. Gabriel Mihalache mostly emotes. Like Matt Yglesias, Unfogged contributors mistakenly think the debate is about policy opinions. Will Wilkinson and Bryan Caplan also confuse the policy question with the questions of the sociology of economics. I am not going to try to summarize what diverse posters at Max's place say.

Some have taken this discussion as an opportunity to discussion specific strains of heterodox economics. In response to Tyler Cowen's query for heterodox ideas that the mainstream neglects, Marginal Revolution went off on the Cambridge Capital Controversy and the contributions of Piero Sraffa, before returning to the value of heterodoxy. (Cowen also gives his impression of Post Keynesianism.) Brad DeLong is concerned to claim bastard Keynesianism as legimate.