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Why Can't Economists Be Trusted? Ask an Economist

Five ways to make economics relevant again.

Start with a clean slate. — Start with a clean slate.
Photographer: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Victoria Bateman

January 14, 2016, 9:07 AM UTC

The market volatility at the start of 2016 raises a question that has lingered since the global financial crisis: Can economists be trusted? Ever since 2008, economists have come under attack for being out of touch, including by Her Majesty the Queen, who wondered how they could have been so mistaken.

Eight years on, there is still no profession more in need of a few changes. So here is my own five-point plan for how we economists can bring about a revitalized, more relevant, profession.