Last week, a group of eminent economists gathered in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to review responses to the financial crisis at a conference organised by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a group founded by financier George Soros. The event led me to reflect on the phenomenon of confirmation bias, or the tendency to find evidence to support what one already believes.
Three years after it began, enemies of modern capitalism look back and perceive egregious instances of the failure of the market that they had always deplored. President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel see new flaws in an Anglo-American economic hegemony that they had long detested. Others on the right deplore the mistakes of inept regulation, lax monetary policy and poor policy responses.
The crash challenges established views, people will tell you, but this seems to be a recommendation to others, rather than a personal statement. Lessons have been learnt, they will say, but the lesson most people have learnt is that they were right all along.