David Ruccio: An Appreciation

Abstract

In expressing his appreciation for the work of David Ruccio’s blog, Occasional Links & Commentary, Richard Wolff discusses the common experiences of faculty members working from heterodox economics theories in the U.S. university system following the turn to neoclassical economics. After the marginalization and eventual removal of the notable heterodox economics department at the University of Notre Dame, Ruccio turned to blogging as a way of translating academically formulated concepts into and for general discussion with a wider readership that includes activists, social critics, academics, journalists, and a new generation of leftist politicians. This work of “popularization,” rather than nonscientific, has constituted an important contribution to long-overdue social change.