Standard economics is viewed as a value free subject based on mathematical models and statistical techniques. Often economics students are lost in the haze of technical details and are not equipped to address pressing real world issues of ecological damage, climate change, economic inequality, worker precarity, future of work, and post pandemic rising cost of living. Additionally, issues of populism, neocolonialism, extraction, occupation, apartheid, and genocide are seemingly deemed too political for a “value free” subject.
But economics is anything but apolitical, as the current neoclassical paradigm has been closely associated with a neoliberal ideology where the status quo is retained by associating government with inefficiency, be it a living wage, cap on drug prices, limiting CEO pay, or wealth taxes.
Standard economics would mostly be focused on the impact on the Israeli and Gazan economy. Yet, economics is not a monolithic field, as there are multiple and pluralist perspectives. This much is true on the issue of Gaza, where a significant group of economists including student groups have adopted positions opposite to that taken by the US government, that seems driven more by messianic right-wing interests than human values. A brief snapshot of these economists and economics groups on Gaza is as follows.
Thomas Piketty
A French economist noted for his work on economic inequality, whose recent books include Time for Socialism (2021) and A Brief History of Equality (2022), wrote in his article titled, “If the West truly supports the two-state solution, it must sanction Israel”:
“If Western governments truly support the two-state solution, then sanctions must be imposed on the Israeli government, which is openly trampling all peaceful prospects by pursuing settlement and repression and opposing recognition of the Palestinian state.
In other words, military aid must stop, and above all the US and Europe must hit Netanyahu and his allies in the wallet. This means introducing trade and financial sanctions, gradually increasing to dissuasive levels. … At the same time as imposing sanctions on Israel, Europe and the US must put in place implacable and dissuasive sanctions against Hamas and its external supporters, and decisively strengthen representative and democratic Palestinian organizations.”
Jason Hickel
An economic anthropologist and author of popular books like The Divide (2017) and Less is More (2020), Hickel is clear on Gaza. On X he wrote:
“Israel is systematically dismantling the health system in Gaza because they know this will drive mortality rates up. ... This is how the genocide is being conducted. The Israeli government is taking this route --starvation, disease, repeated displacement -- because they know that directly massacring more than a few hundred people a day would put the US under enough pressure that they might withdraw support. It is a purposeful strategy. They are trying to do genocide in a way that's just within what is politically acceptable for the ruling classes and media outlets of the US and EU.”
He has been consistently raising the issue of imperial colonialism in Gaza on his social media. Based on his work, he has also spoken on “Why a Liberated Palestine Threatens Global Capitalism.”
Yanis Varoufakis
The former Greek minister of finance, author of multiple books including Foundations of Economics (1998) and most recently Techno-feudalism (2023), he was banned from Germany for his advocacy on Palestine. He has been wearing a keffiyeh and has been outspoken in various interviews. The following excerpt is from his article that is worth reading in full.
“You accuse us of antisemitic hatred. We accuse you of being the antisemite’s best friend by equating the right of Israel to commit war crimes with the right of Israeli Jews to defend themselves.
You accuse us of supporting terrorism. We accuse you of equating legitimate resistance to an apartheid state with atrocities against civilians which I have always and will always condemn, whoever commits them —
You accuse us of trivialising Hamas’s October 7 terror. We accuse you of trivialising the eighty years of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the erection of an ironclad apartheid system across Israel-Palestine. … We accuse you of trivialising the unprecedented terror unleashed by the Israeli army on the people of Gaza, the West Bank. and East Jerusalem.”
Often economics students are lost in the haze of technical details and are not equipped to address pressing real world issues
Jayati Ghosh
An Indian development economist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she has been clear on her X account:
"Let us be clear: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The US is complicit in genocide"
She has also been outspoken on “colonial expansion and genocide” in her video titled: “Palestine is the end of the rules-based international order”.
Radical Political Economics
The Union for Radical Political Economics issued a statement as “Economists for Palestine”. They wrote:
“Since the Nakba 75 years ago, the Palestinian people have endured profound suffering, forced displacement, and a brutal 16-year-long inhumane siege and blockade in Gaza. Human rights organisations have characterised Gaza as ‘the largest open-air prison’.
We also condemn the role of the US state in supporting the ongoing siege in Palestine, its support for the horrors inflicted on Gaza, […] The fight for Palestinian liberation and a fair, enduring peace in the region is intricately linked with the liberation and resistance efforts spearheaded by indigenous, colonised, and oppressed communities historically and worldwide.
In addition, we strongly uphold the principle of academic freedom, especially in light of the current global climate where individuals in educational institutions worldwide face termination, doxing, and harassment for speaking up against the atrocities of the Israeli state and in support of the civilian population in Gaza.”
International Society for Ecological Economics
The ISEE issued a statement for Gaza, an excerpt of which reads:
“The majority of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are displaced, and an estimated half face starvation. Israeli scholar Raz Segal calls the current situation “a textbook case of Genocide” (JewishCurrents, October 13, 2023) … We condemn the Israeli massacre, displacement, imprisonment, and dehumanisation of Palestinians. We condemn the human and ecological devastation in Gaza, including vital infrastructure such as water and energy, farms, livestock, soils, and biodiversity, with long-lasting human, social, economic, and ecological consequences.
We denounce the criminalisation of solidarity with Palestine and weaponisation of the crucial struggle against antisemitism to censor virtually any critiques of Israel’s policy towards Palestine, genocide, and colonial occupation. We decry antisemitism and recognise as legitimate critiques of any colonial and racist ideology premised on the subjugation of Palestinians and their land.”
Rethinking Economics
Rethinking Economics is a global network of students and organisers that push for change in economics pedagogy to address real-world issues including climate change and inequality. They issued a statement, an excerpt of which reads:
“As an organisation which views inequality as a major global challenge, we unreservedly oppose apartheid, ethnic cleansing, imperialism and reaffirm the fundamental equality between all peoples. Israel’s history has been tied to the history of colonialism, at the expense of Palestinian people and we are dismayed at the US and European support for the ongoing siege and its refusal to support a humanitarian ceasefire.
We strongly advocate for all universities to preserve the right to protest against Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians and its history of oppression. We strongly condemn any universities and research bodies sanctioning students, staff and academics for exercising these rights […]”
Overall, the snapshot above affirms that economics and economists are not a monolith. They might very well be branded with allegations of anti-Semitism. But then hyper-nationalism, religious supremacism and weaponised victimhood are often the last refuge of the scoundrel.