PhD's in economics are really more applied math degrees. You need not have ever taken an economics class to get into a program nor do you have to demonstrate basic theory to teach an undergad econ course. The textbook publisher will give you everything you need.

T o put it another way, there is little regard for understanding the processes that actually drive the phenomenon economists are trying to study. Observation, that is practical experience or spending time intimately outside the office with the subject matter, isn't valued. Being able to publish is what is most valued among academia.

To note, there is no Steem economics any more than a black economics or a white economics or what have you. The basics of supply and demand never change. The problems created by a centrally planned economy and monetary policy are the same. Rent seeking is rife in crypto and so on and so forth. The standard theories that are present in introductory textbooks hasn't changed in decades. What has change is they put a little more math in there and a lot more color pictures.