Not a bad article. Academics, particularly in the Humanities and Social Sciences, have little understanding of economics. Their 'understanding' comes almost entirely from Marx. 'Neoliberalism' is only ever mentioned in critique.

There'll never be any internal reform in academia. It'll only ever happen if it's forced from without. The only solution I can see is to stop funding the departments and courses in question.

.......move beyond a centre-left bias to address the various .....

What do you mean by left? both labour and liberal are on the same side of the fence, they are both just the two wings of the same bird-of-prey.

Anyone that holds an opinion on politics will appear to biased to others. The vast majority of academics over time have been well left of centre, probably due to their inexperience with the real world. To these ivory tower idealists, anyone right of Lenin is biased.

I don't think it necessarily comes down to life experience.

Sure most humanities students gravitate to supposed ideas advocating a better world, but exposure to a variety of perspectives can make a difference.

I started off very left, but went out of my way to read all perspectives say Huntington and so on.

As I read more, I concluded that all (many) perspectives have strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, you can have a strong opinion, but conclusions about policy questions should comprehensively assess all info as much as possible.

Having said that a university professor wrote that I an anti-Labor scholar, as evident by my OLO articles. Funny enough, I voted Labor at the time in all previous House of Reps elections.

Arguably, any privately funded study can arrive at conclusions that agree broadly with the beliefs or assertions of those funding the inquiry?

And in patently massaged political and social justice outcomes, hugely problematical?

Like e.g., coal is our economy's best friend; and or, unprecedented climate change is merely cyclical and can't be reversed before it's too late, by practical solutions with a huge economic upsides!?

Not for nothing is it writ large, he who pays the piper calls the tune! Or indeed, that nobody learns the lessons of history; or, given that is so, unwittingly decide whether we do or do not spiral ever downward into an even more protracted Great Depression?

The only possible consequence of once again concentrating too much of our finite wealth in too few hands!?

Any study of warm and comfortable frogs being slowly brought to the boil, in a pot of gradually heating water; will, regardless of who funds it, be unable to arrive at any conclusion, other than than the warm and comfortable frog remains ensconced, luxuriating in its "nice hot bath" until the unavoidable lethal consequences have literally cooked (croaked) its goose!
Alan B

Hi Alan,

FYI, I do believe (think) that humans are compounding any natural movement towards global warming.

While I have recently worked for the IPA, and hope to do in the future wherever I can be helpful or relevant, I have never hidden my concern about global warming, support for renewable energy, or worry about home ownership or freer trade which is not appropriately checked when needed.

In other words, I never kiss anyone's ass.

Maybe that is why I am underemployed.