Facing the economic facts
Posted on April 19, 2007 by Richard Beddard
Filed Under Ramblings |
The Adam Smith institute says UK media is vapid. It churns out commentary about how people feel, but too rarely presents economic facts:
How much more effective our public spending would be… if the familiar cry for ‘more resources’ were routinely coupled with the idea of ‘opportunity cost’…. And how much less would be squandered on regulation if ‘cost/benefit analysis’ had been drummed into us all at school.
I find its brand of free market economics unquestioningly relentless, but as a tiny cog in the media I’m also nodding slowly in agreement.
In the race to get people’s attention, proper analysis does play second fiddle to describing how people feel.
Perhaps the Internet is the answer. I’ve been surprised how few financial bloggers there are, and amazed by squadrons of economists and would-be economists buzzing around the internet bombing each others blogs. The trouble is most of them are talking to other economists in a language that doesn’t seem relevant to the real world. They need a Patrick Moore or Carol Vorderman to bring dismal science to life!
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Business is such a low priority with schools, students can graduate without taking a single business course.
I usually try to encourage students to at least take one marketing, one accounting and one economics course. Often I’m the first one that has ever suggested that to them.
I always tell them every job they have will be at a business. And, unfortunately, what is covered for business in the schools tends to have less able students steered to them. The students going to university are rarely steered to take any business in high school.