Two Narratives of Platform Capitalism

Mainstream economists tend to pride themselves on the discipline's resem­blance to science. But growing concerns about the reproducibility of economic research are undermining that source of legitimacy. These concerns have fueled renewed interest in another aspect of economic thought: its narrative nature. When presenting or framing their work, neoliberal economists tend to tell sto­ries about supply and demand, unintended consequences, and transaction costs in order to justify certain policy positions.

These stories often make sense, and warn policymakers against simplistic solutionism.