I’m currently retraining from a moderately successful career in IT into econ/maths, and explaining my motives for this is always an uphill struggle against people’s misapprehension of what economics is even about.
In many ways it’s kind of an invisible discipline. There are all sorts of benevolent aspects of everyday life which are clearly the product of chemistry or engineering or medical science, but it’s hard to assemble a collection of concrete, object-level stuff and say “all these things were made by economists!”
There’s also a problem of motive when it comes to a lay appreciation of economics. No-one develops an amateur interest in physics because they have a crazy partisan political agenda, but in r/Economics/ there are thrice-weekly arguments on the gold standard you can set your watch by. It takes a special kind of nerdery to be interested in something for the sake of interest, but a lot of cranky trouble-causers speak with great unearned authority on economic subjects because they’re really pissed off about something.
“There are all sorts of benevolent aspects of everyday life which are clearly the product of chemistry or engineering or medical science, but it’s hard to assemble a collection of concrete, object-level stuff and say “all these things were made by economists!”′
There is a book, “Better Living Through Economics”, (the title inspired, I assume, by “Better Living Through Chemistry”) that explains some of this. It is largely stories about economists getting the government to work better- ending the draft, stabilizing prices, et cetera.
I think we need a sexy fictional economist who solves crimes. If Robert Langdon can uncover millenia-old religious conspiracies and save Rome with an art degree, imagine what someone numerate could do.
I’m currently retraining from a moderately successful career in IT into econ/maths, and explaining my motives for this is always an uphill struggle against people’s misapprehension of what economics is even about.
In many ways it’s kind of an invisible discipline. There are all sorts of benevolent aspects of everyday life which are clearly the product of chemistry or engineering or medical science, but it’s hard to assemble a collection of concrete, object-level stuff and say “all these things were made by economists!”
There’s also a problem of motive when it comes to a lay appreciation of economics. No-one develops an amateur interest in physics because they have a crazy partisan political agenda, but in r/Economics/ there are thrice-weekly arguments on the gold standard you can set your watch by. It takes a special kind of nerdery to be interested in something for the sake of interest, but a lot of cranky trouble-causers speak with great unearned authority on economic subjects because they’re really pissed off about something.
There is a book, “Better Living Through Economics”, (the title inspired, I assume, by “Better Living Through Chemistry”) that explains some of this. It is largely stories about economists getting the government to work better- ending the draft, stabilizing prices, et cetera.
I think we need a sexy fictional economist who solves crimes. If Robert Langdon can uncover millenia-old religious conspiracies and save Rome with an art degree, imagine what someone numerate could do.