We’re in a complexity trap, where nuance is used not to establish truth, but to protect the status quo. By framing solutions as “too simple,” existing institutions can dismiss disruptive ideas, like Georgism, a universal income, or modern monetary theory (VIMMLBUTT) which threaten their structural advantage.

In neoclassical economic academia, ‘rigour’ becomes a gatekeeping mechanism. When an idea like taxing land prices or surplus value is proposed, the immediate pivot is to “it’s more complicated than that” serving as a defensive moat. This turns straightforward economic justice into a technical impossibility, ensuring that the bread stays buttered for those who manage the current, convoluted regime.

Essentially, the principle of Occam’s Razor is considered dangerous by a rent-seeking minority because it cuts straight through the profitable layers of management and damaging taxation. 

This preference for complexity is a deliberate strategy of the elite, and a natural, if entirely misguided, survival reaction of major academic institutions.

Change will be difficult. That’s the challenge!