How then do economists fill eight semesters of coursework? With watered-down versions of topics that fascinate the faculty: supply-and-demand problems, mathematical economics, economic growth, and a long list of fields that are far less “applied” than they sound—macroeconomics, industrial organization, labor economics, regulation, public choice, economic history. From the standpoint of job skills, an economics degree is almost entirely chaff (except for budding economics professors). Yet despite our failure to prepare econ majors for their careers, the job market treats our graduates like
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