I partially agree with this view; however, to be fair, this is not a problem with academic economics, but rather with &quot;pop economics&quot;.<p>There is no lack of academic economists who can (and do) prove how austerity programs and trickle-down are wrong; in fact, they&#x27;re the only ones really leading the charge on this matter in the political world at the moment.<p>The problem is that policy leaders not trained in advanced economic studies (most of them lawyers by trade, as you would expect in the business of writing laws) are awash in &quot;pop economics&quot;, cheap literature peddled by suspect gurus sponsored by interested parties. This creates a hegemonic but distorted view of the field that is then very hard to shake.