But part of the job of economics is weeding out errors. That is much harder than making them, but also more fun.

Why does a public discussion of economic policy so often show the abysmal ignorance of the participants?

It is a good idea to be ambitious, to have goals, to want to be good at what you do, but it is a terrible mistake to let drive and ambition get in the way of treating people with kindness and decency. The point is not that they will then be nice to you. It is that you will feel better about yourself.

Suppose someone sits down where you are sitting right now and announces to me that he is Napoleon Bonaparte. The last thing I want to do with him is to get involved in a technical discussion of cavalry tactics at the Battle of Austerlitz. If I do that, I'm getting tacitly drawn into the game that he is Napoleon Bonaparte.

The fact that there is no such thing as a perfect anti-sepsis does not mean that one might as well do brain surgery in a sewer.

You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.

But part of the job of economics is weeding out errors. That is much harder than making them, but also more fun.