By Aly Kamadia, Editor-In-Chief, iDose

It’s no secret that iDose Magazine primarily features commentary from individuals within the academic world, including distinguished intellectuals.

Two MIT economists whose commentary I sometimes turn to, and who have been featured in iDose Magazine over the years, are Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson.

Both were recently awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. We congratulate them on this prestigious achievement, as well as for their thoughtful commentary and analysis on some of the most pressing issues of our time.

Indeed, there is no shortage of urgent issues.

And unfortunately, when we glance at the current batch of political, economic and business “leaders” in the world, all too often we discover a collection of clowns.

One striking feature of many “leaders” (by no means the only one), is that they suffer from delusions that they are immune from the influence of intellectuals and their ideas.

Every once in a while they should be reminded of a thought that the late and ever astute John Maynard Keynes, the founder of modern macroeconomics, stated about such ‘practical men’:

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

Keynes’ sentiment was oversimplified, and incorrect when he accused ignorant ‘practical men’ of being the ‘slaves of some defunct economist’.

Though it is nevertheless impossible to deny the late intellectual’s wisdom.

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Aly Kamadia is Editor-In-Chief of iDose Magazine. Kamadia holds an Honors BA & MA in Political Science, both from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He currently serves as Director of Kamadia & Associates.  To read selected articles by Kamadia, click here.