Neoclassical economics is inherently biased against progressive policies and therefore should be avoided by progressives seeking to make the case for them. This is reflected in the history of regulation of payday loans and other fringe financial products. Conservatives used economic arguments to roll back regulation of these products in the second half of the twentieth century. Attempts to reregulate them have since been stymied despite progressives’ use of behavioral economic arguments to justify greater regulation. Progressives who eschew economic argument have had more success pursuing reform in other areas in the Biden Administration. The failure of behavioral economics to advance a progressive agenda in fringe finance suggests that inframarginalism, which also embraces the neoclassical analytic, will not help progressives. Another problem is that any neoclassical approach privileges elite expertise.