From economic theory to economic policy, and from there to reality: a psychoanalytic excursion

The starting point of this article is the observation that economic theory, policy and reality seem to coexist, to a large extent, as separate entities. Informed by the psychoanalytic understanding of symbolic thinking and of learning from experience, my aim here is to explore the nature of this separation, as well as the tensions that this isolation can create. I submit that the main cause of separation and tension between economic thought, policy action and reality is the presence of uncertainty and the responses it invites from academics, civil servants and politicians. Furthermore, I argue that the main difficulty in academia relates to developing and sharing knowledge in the context of the unknown, when it feels as if omniscience is part of the job description. The turning of a blind eye to uncertainty in the making of economic policy indicates that the primary difficulty here lies in civil servants and politicians feeling and acting as if omnipotence was in the job description. Finally, I conclude that uncertainty and the way one deals with it appears to be the underlying cause for these gaps and tensions, as well as a powerful driving engine for personal change.