This article was originally published in Profectus Magazine.
The economics profession has become extremely specialized. Economists might think we’re making the father of economics, Adam Smith, proud by fostering a further “division of labor” as the field compartmentalizes into ever-more-specialized areas of study, and economists become experts in more nuanced and limited areas. However, as Ronald Coase warned a few months before his passing in 2012, we should worry more about saving economics from the economists. In his own words, “The degree to which economics is isolated from the ordinary business of life is extraordinary and unfortunate.”
