Anyone who has ever been to a doctor for a second opinion on how best to treat a severe medical condition must surely have felt confused if told to discard their current medicine and get a new one instead.

Some political leaders in western economies are peddling old economic strategies to resurrect their economies from stagflation misery. They are prepared to gamble in the hope that they will hit the jackpot and thereby extend their political life.

The economist Paul Samuelson once said: “Economics is not an exact science; it’s a combination of an art and elements of science.” It seems that some, but not all, current political leaders have an unshakeable trust in a roll-of-the-dice economics philosophy.

The new UK prime minister, Liz Truss, wore the mantle of Margaret Thatcher to impress Conservative Party members to appoint her as their leader. Some had hoped that her electoral campaign rhetoric would change once she felt the burden of leading her country out of the economic troubles it faces. But so far, she is sticking to her trickle-down economics strategies.

Trickle-down economics and its policies employ the theory that tax breaks and benefits for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down and eventually benefit everyone. Truss says she is willing to be an “unpopular prime minister” to bring in measures she believes will grow the economy.

She confirmed she would be reversing the national insurance hike and axing the planned increase to corporation tax. Truss also wants to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses as she argues she needs to make “difficult decisions” under her gamble to go for growth.

US President Joe Biden is a seasoned politician who has lived through many more economic cycles than Truss. He recently hit out at trickle-down economics on Twitter, saying, “I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked.”

The UK prime minister’s official spokesperson reacted by saying: “Any suggestion that Biden’s comment is in some way a direct criticism of UK policy would be ludicrous. No two countries’ economies are structured in the same way; each has unique challenges.”

Trickle-down economics is not a new philosophy. In the early part of the last century, US president Herbert Hoover believed that incentivising business prosperity would trickle down to the average person, and the economic assistance to citizens would stifle the workforce. This strategy was ineffective against the Great Depression, and his failure to end it led to his defeat in the 1932 presidential election against Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Some political leaders in western economies are peddling old economic strategies to resurrect their economies from stagflation misery

More recent believers in trickle-down economics were Ronald Reagan and Thatcher. Reagan instituted tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending and market deregulation due to his commitment to trickle-down theory and supply-side economics. Thatcher adopted similar economic strategies in the UK.

Like most western economies, the UK faces tough economic challenges not just because of the effects of the pandemic but also as a result of the weakness of neo-liberal policies and changing geopolitical realities.

Truss claims that criticism that it was unfair to fund tax cuts by borrowing to be paid for by future generations is “what people on the left of politics often express”. Still, many public opinion polls confirm that UK citizens agree with a windfall tax and paying more tax to improve the NHS and public services.

The Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf argues: “We need to acknowledge that 40 years on, Thatcherism is a zombie idea, for two opposing reasons – both what was achieved and what was not.”

Like most western economies in the last few decades, the UK has increased the gap between the haves and the have-nots in society. Wolf is right when he comments that investment in education and training has largely failed to transform the population’s skills, which has been made harder by the condition in which children grow up. Corporate governance failures have multiplied, and rather than provide businesses with risk capital, investors were encouraged to buy government debt.

Like the new centre-right coalition in Italy, Truss wants to roll the dice, hoping that reducing taxes on corporations and the wealthy will encourage investment and economic growth. She insists: “To get economic growth, Britain has to be competitive. If we put up taxes, if we have arbitrary taxes on energy companies, if we have high corporation tax, we will not get that investment and growth”.

Only time will tell whether roll the dice economics works. Many suspect it will not.