Blogging, Teaching, Learning

Alex TabarrokMarginal Revolution

Why do GMU Economists Blog?

GMU Blogs Marginal Revolution Café Hayek EconLog Overcoming Bias Coordination Problem and

others GMU economists also

Newspapers Radio Television Novels Rap videos.

Economics is Important for the World Economics teaches important lessons for human

welfare. Popular Physics vs.Popular economics It’s not vital that the public understand black

holes, it is vital that the public understand price controls. Citizens in a democracy need to understand

economics and its lessons. Principles of economics the most important economics

class. Educating future economists is important but

educating future citizens is even more important.

The World is our Classroom

Teaching not restricted to the classroom: the world is our classroom.

Blogs are an important communication tool.

Marginal Revolution among Top 100 blogs in the world.

Visitors from all over the world.

Marginal Revolution, World Visit Map, Oct-Nov, 2011

We have readers at WSJ, NYTimes, Financial Times, Treasury, Federal Reserve?

Similar story for others, e.g. Krugman and Freakonomics. The Lesson: Surprising Demand for Economics Knowledge.

Get to the point. Bite-sized posts with a little bit of fun.

Dim Sum for the mind. Don’t assume that limited attention

span means limited learning. Depth comes in following the

conversation, repeated visits and links. Don’t underestimate the audience.

Teaching the World Using Blogs

Lessons for Textbook Writing Be vivid, make every word count. First sentence from a well-known economics textbook:

The word economy comes from the Greek word oikonomos, which means “one who manages a household.”

First sentence, Modern Principles:

The prisoners were dying of scurvy, typhoid fever, and smallpox but nothing was killing them more than bad incentives.

Blogging on the Cutting Edge Prior to ~2008 lots of applied

Freakonomics type material. Then in 2008 the world went to hell. Blogs have become the first place for

policy debate and policy development.

Why?

Blogs: Fast, Open, Robust Fast

Journal time vs. Real Time. Open

Anyone can enter the conversation. Robust

Debate, discussion and development. Facts are important. All bugs are shallow with enough eyes.

Crowdsourcing Microbiology

Crowdsourcing Mathematics Polymath project. Tim Gowers, Fields

Medalist, proposed massive collaboration as a way to find a new combinatorial proof to the density version of the Hales–Jewett theorem.

Problem solved within 6-weeks!

Crowdsourcing Economics Scott Sumner and NGDP targeting. From blog to

OMC debate in 3 years. Gary Gorton and shadow banking. Housing, finance, monetary, fiscal, structural issues. Paul Krugman and working out debt transference

problem. Back and forth between policy and model.

Brad DeLong, Nick Rowe and others working to reconcile Fisherian, Wicksellian, Keynesian policy frameworks.

Treasury, Federal Reserve and elsewhere. Blogs have become especially important for

economic policy.

Economic Policy and Cleverness v. Wisdom Journals reward cleverness.

Prove that the model works, given the assumptions. Realism of assumptions doesn’t matter (much). Application to policy in or two paragraphs at the end. Can be refereed.

Policy requires wisdom. From the 10 models available which are the most

relevant? Assumptions are critical as is knowing something

about the world. Do the assumptions apply? Economic history of great use. Constraints of history, psychology, and politics are

importance. Hard to referee.

Policy and Economics

Economics on the blogs is less about formal proofs more about combining economics, politics, psychology, history, and law to make useful advice.

Need a new term:

The Return of Political Economy

Conclusions

Blogging is teaching The world is your classroom. There is a demand for accessible economics.

Blogging is learning and researching Changes the questions we ask Changes acceptable answers▪ Facts▪ History▪ Law

Blogging is the Return of Political Economy.