What's the big idea? Theories are contagious | Torsten Bell | Opinion | The Guardian
Ideas matter. They shape not just how we think, but what we do. And economics ideas matter more than most, given the central role they play in our politics, especially at times of crisis. I thought the idea that the UK was facing bankruptcy, supposedly like crisis-stricken Greece, played a major role in the speed and scale of austerity after the financial crisis, despite being nonsense. Others said it was pure politics, not ideas, that mattered.
