Gears and Monsters: What Economic Science Is and What It Should Be

Digital technologies, big data, tech giants, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing both the tools of economic science and the phenomena it studies, understands, and seeks to shape. In her book "Gears and Monsters", Diana Coyle explores the most serious issues and new opportunities facing modern economics and analyzes what needs to be done to help policymakers tackle global challenges—from the consequences of the pandemic and inequality to slowing growth and the climate crisis. According to Coyle, traditional economic science still views people as "gears"—rational, calculating, independent agents operating under clearly defined conditions. However, the digital economy is much more characterized by "monsters"—uncontrollable, snowballing, and socially conditioned unknowns. Worse still, by viewing people as gears, economics itself generates monsters, remaining without the tools to understand new problems. In this regard, Coyle raises important questions: Is economic individualism relevant in the digital age, is it time to rethink how we measure growth and progress, and can economics be objective if it influences what it studies?