The list this week is very short. It shows a little bit of learning. In particular, it shows little thought about what I’m reading because I’m dealing with personal problems.
by Timothy Taylor, Conversable EconomistJuly 29, 2024.
Now for the quote:
In discussions of international economic relations in the US, it sometimes feels like the other country that should be mentioned is China. Daniel Hamilton at the Brookings Institution compiled a list of the US’s international economic relations in a short article “Who is America’s top trading partner? (Hint: It’s not China.)”(March 21, 2024). Here is a table from his article:
If you managed to miss the picture, then before you click the link or read below, make a guess about the country that is the United States’ #1 trading partner.
Timothy further points out that, measured in traded goods, the top 4 in 2022, in order, were the EU ($904.1 billion), Canada ($793.1 billion), Mexico ($779.1 billion) , and China (690.3 billion). The numbers are exports plus imports.
by Steven E. Landsburg, The Wall Street JournalAugust 2, 2024.
Quote:
Price theory seems to be disappearing from the economics curriculum. When I look at the courses offered in a few top economics departments, I see a lot of the courses offered in theoretical microeconomics and price theory are much lower than what I did five years ago. I have spoken to many economists who have noticed the same thing.
I’m not sure why this is happening. Perhaps it is driven by students looking for courses in which they can excel by memorizing a textbook rather than learning to think. But if economics majors don’t learn to think about economics, who will?
This fits well with recent discussions about teaching economics on this site. See here and here.
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