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Article published In: Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 14:4 (2015) ► pp.599–625

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The financial crisis as a heart attack

Discourse profiles of economists in the financial crisis

 |  | Johannes Kepler University, Linz |
 |  | Johannes Kepler University, Linz |
Published online: 11 December 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.14.4.06puh
The article analyzes the role of economists in public discourse with regard to the financial crisis. Specifically, it focuses on the prevailing rhetorical strategies and the economic convictions of leading German-speaking economists as they appear in seven leading newspapers and magazines in the German-speaking area. Special attention is given to the prevailing rationales and explanations for the financial crisis as well as on the metaphors used for describing specific economic events in particular and the market economy in general. The results of this article show that while the financial crisis could have offered a possibility for a paradigm shift in economic thinking, there is not much evidence for such a shift among German-speaking economists. The observed stability of the dominant paradigm is attributed primarily to the very stable role of certain basic economic convictions, which are exposed through the use of specific metaphors as well as a characterization of the financial crisis as a series of extraordinary and exogenously given events. (e.g. “a tsunami” or “earthquake”)
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphors of Economists and Economists in the Media
  • 3.Methodological Framework and Research Design
  • 4.Course of the Public Discourse on the Financial Crisis
    • 4.13rd quarter of 2008: “The American Crisis will overthrow other dominoes – we have to be fast”
    • 4.24th quarter of 2008: State failure in regulation leads to a “tsunami” in Germany
    • 4.31st quarter of 2009: “Keynesian Moment?” Or the fear of the state?
    • 4.42nd quarter of 2009: Self-reflection about the influence of economists and their prognoses?
    • 4.53rd quarter of 2009: “The delicate little plant of economic activity” in the credit crunch
    • 4.64th quarter of 2009: “The living-beyond-one’s-means” in times of increasing unemployment
  • 5.Discussion: Real World Events, Thinking Styles and Metaphors
    • 5.1The financial crisis as a disease that infected the economy (disease)
    • 5.2The financial crisis as a natural disaster or a military attack (nature, military, mechanics)
    • 5.3The (financial) market as a sensitive actor (anthropomorphism)
    • 5.4Economic acting requires a specific morality (economic morality/responsibility)
    • 5.5The financial crisis as misfortune in the economic game (game)
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
References (68)
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