People devote a lot of time to consuming political news. On its own – if people don’t do anything with this political knowledge – it achieves nothing. If a person’s political activity consists only in speaking with friends who have consumed the same news, and already believe the same things, nothing will change for the better.
Moreover, people naturally tend to focus on dramatic political stories, leading them to spend more time following American politics than our own, even though they have even less influence there than here. Read More...
‘What do trade agreements really do?’. This is the question Dani Rodrik asks in an essaypublished in the Journal of Economic Perspectiveslast year. He begins by citing a survey of leading economics professors in the US showing near-consensus support amongst them for both the concept of free trade in general and the North American Free Trade Agreement specifically.
Why do economists support free trade? It’s one of the first clear results in economic theory, outlined by David Ricardo back in 1817. Read More...
‘Growth’ is one of the most common terms you’ll hear in public discussions of the economy. The treasurer will always try and tell the country that growth is strong. While the opposition will say that growth is not as strong as it could or should be. But why does everyone in the political class assume that growth is good? And not just good, but perhaps thekey indicator of successful government. What does economic growth actually mean for us? Read More...
