, Columnist
Economics Has a Major Blind Spot
If economists want their ideas to get a hearing, they need to consider the political implications.
But only if it helps get me re-elected.
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The longer I work in the news media, the more I notice a problem with the way economics interacts with the world at large. Just to cite one example, economists often don’t take politics into account. As a result, econ models leave out important pieces, and the advice of economists often falls on deaf ears or is seen as impractical.
Traditionally, economists think of themselves as policy advisers. Politicians and their appointees make the laws, levy the taxes, set the regulations, make spending decisions, and chart the course of monetary policy; economists stand at their side, faithful technocratic advice-givers neutrally relaying the latest insights from academia. That’s the typical vision, anyway.