Economists Unsuccessful In Teaching

I've previously commented on Philip Ball's opinion of economics. He's recently offered an article in Nature. This is behind a pay wall, but Ball provides an unedited, longer version on his blog, and a comment on it.

Ball notices that mainstream economists often defend their discipline against critics by asserting that critics attack a straw person. Of course introductory courses are simplified, but sophisticated research has long move beyond such models. Ball's point seems to be that, if so, economists have not been successful in getting the public or policy-makers to realize the introductory nature of simplified models or to be aware of more sophisticated lessons. "Knowledgable economists and critics of traditional economics are on the same side."