On the interdependency of political authority and economic expertise

Abstract

This chapter discusses the fact that there is a very special interdependency between the authority of economic experts and the authority of political leaders. It is a central contention of this chapter of the book that political authority in a liberal democracy comes in the first instance from electoral success, but secondarily and very importantly from continuing success in policy and performance. One of the most fundamental tasks of government is managing the economy, economic failure being practically synonymous with political failure. This makes political leaders, who form the essential hinge linking democratic polity with liberal economy, especially dependent on a particular class of advisors whose authority rests on the perceived validity and application of the economic theories they espouse. Expert authority is a function of consensus formation among political leaders as to whose policies offer the best hope of helping them in their economic management task or a way out of current difficulties.