Angus Deaton is a Nobel-prize winning economist known for his ground breaking work on ‘Deaths of Despair’. In this exclusive written interview with the IAI, ahead of his live online panel on the Tears of the West – tickets here, Professor Deaton explains where he has changed his mind, why economics has gone wrong and why economists need philosophy to chart a better future. 

You have been a practicing economist now for over half a century. What, if anything, have you changed your mind on?

I learned to be an economist in what, by today’s lights, was a heterodox environment, Cambridge of the early 1970s. The Cambridge Keynesians—Joan Robinson, Lord Kahn, Austin Robinson, Nicholas Kaldor, David Champernowne—were important players, as were James Meade and Richard Stone, who were less visible and voluble, though both were important to me, particularly Stone. There were also younger economists who were destined to do great things, including Tony Atkinson, Jim Mirrlees, Amartya Sen, and Joe Stiglitz.