--- Alex Tabarrok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I will be giving a 15-20 minute talk to a bunch of journalists and > proto-journalists ( most of them are editors of student university > newspapers) about what economics has to offer journalism. I am > interested in the suggestions of list members as to what the most > important lessons economics has to teach. I have a number of thoughts > myself, of course, including
I tell students that the most important lesson economics teaches is to understand the reality beneath the superficial happenings and appearances of economic activity. I tell students that the motto of economics is "keep it real". That gets a good response. This is why economics uses economic profit, opportunity cost, real interest, real GDP, etc., rather than nominal and accounting data, and why what is unseen has to be understood along with that is seen, and the total and long-run effect along with the immediate and local effect. Tell the journalists to "keep it real". Economics discovers and analyzes the implicit realities. Fred Foldvary ===== [EMAIL PROTECTED]
