Alex Tabbarok says no: I used to think there was such a thing as development economics. There are still richer and poorer countries, of course, but is there a “development economics,” a special type of economics for poor countries? I don’t think so. Maybe there once was. In the twentieth century, divergence in per-capita GDP … Continue reading “Is There Such a Thing as Development Economics?”
Six principles, three big picture questions, and three bonus questions. Anybody who’s attended a principles class taught by me knows what is coming next. It is my deeply rooted conviction that almost every single problem/concept/idea in economics can become more relatable by simplifying it down to one out of these twelve things: six principles, three … Continue reading “What Am I Optimizing For on EFE in 2023?”
That’s the title of a paper published recently in the The Journal of Applied Public Economics. Here is the abstract: Economics is permeated with value judgements, and removing them would be neither possible nor desirable. They are consequential, in the sense that they have a sizeable impact on economists’ output. Yet many economists may not … Continue reading “Teaching Economics As Though Values Matter”
… or at least, economists employed by the governments. So says Amol Agrawal in a searing piece that is at once a lament as well as an indictment. Why is the nature of discourse today so painfully zero-sum? Why do we have a take-no-prisoner approach to discussions, where disagreement is necessarily proof of the fact … Continue reading “Economists Do It In Tribes”
Before we begin, interested readers should note that this blogpost (and the paper it covers) are a welcome violation of Betteridge’s law. In this case, the paper argues (and I agree), the answer is very much yes. The paper in question is written by Diane Coyle, Mark Fabian, Eric Beinhocker, Tim Besley and Margaret Stevens. … Continue reading “Is It Time to Reboot Welfare Economics?”
Navin asked this question on Twitter recently: (My thanks to Mihir Mahajan for pointing the tweet out to me, and for requesting for a post on this topic) My current plan is to answer this question over three posts. In today’s post, I’ll try and answer this question using a first principles approach. That is, … Continue reading “Why is it bad to be rich?”
It goes without saying that I do not know enough about the details, but I certainly treat this tweet as good news. And in case you missed reading about it, there’s also this from last month. It is remarkable how much progress we’re making in the medical field, and based on what little I understand … Continue reading “A Tweet, A Reply, And So A Blogpost”
About three weeks ago, Gulzar Natarajan wrote a blogpost titled “25 economic orthodoxies that should be discarded“. The list is fascinating and worth thinking about. Doubly so if you are learning or teaching economics, and each of his twenty-five picks is worthy of discussion. So worthy, in fact, that a blogpost probably won’t be enough … Continue reading “No Free Markets”
Not just economists, of course. We’re all storytellers. What else have we got? “We are basically storytellers,” wrote Lucas, “creators of make-believe economic systems.” https://timharford.com/2023/07/what-an-amusement-park-can-teach-us-about-central-banks/ I read Tim Harford’s excellent blog post on what amusement parks can teach us about central banks last night, and loved it for more than one reason. But before we … Continue reading “Economists As Storytellers”
This post is a continuation of my post from yesterday, available here. I’ve been predicting the death of the classroom for three years, and wishing for it for far longer. We have classrooms, and continue to have classrooms, for the same reasons that factories organized themselves around the steam engine: it was the best response … Continue reading “The Death of the Classroom, *NOT* the University”
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