I have long had a "thinking like an economist" lecture in the can. But I very rarely give it. It seems to me that it is important stuff—that people really should know it before they begin studying economics, because it would make studying economics much easier. But it also seems to me—usually—that it is pointless to give it at the start of a course to newBs: they just won't understand it. And it also seems to me—usually—that it is also pointless to give it to students at the end of their college years: they either understand it already, or it is too late.

By continuity that would seem to imply that there is an optimal point in the college curriculum to teach this stuff. But is that true?

What do you think?

Teaching Materials Stock

Main Lecture Thread http://www.bradford-delong.com/how-to-think-like-an-economistlecture.html

Economics: What Kind of Discipline Is It?

• A social science
  • Example of things getting weird: Expectations: 1929, The Great Crash, and the Great Depression http://www.bradford-delong.com/1929-the-great-crash-and-the-great-depression.html
• A quantitative social science
• An abstract social science

The Rhetoric of Economics

• Analogies and metaphors
• Markets
• Equilibrium
• Graphs and equations
• Model building

Model-Building: Assumptions

• Simplification
• Representative agents
• Opportunity cost
• Expectations

"Solving" Models

• Behavioral relationships
  • Example: The Production Function http://www.bradford-delong.com/a-behavioral-relationship-the-production-function.html
  • Tools: Exponents and Cobb-Douglas Functions http://www.bradford-delong.com/a-behavioral-relationship-the-production-function.html
• Equilibrium conditions
  • Example: The Balanced-Growth Capital-Output Ratio http://www.bradford-delong.com/an-equilibrium-condition-the-balanced-growth-capital-output-ratio.html
• Solutions
  • Arithmetic
  • Algebra
  • Analytic geometry
• The advantages of algebra

Keynote: 2017-07-16 Thinking Like an Economist https://www.icloud.com/keynote/0Lvx3IfBcDQWga2Y3ERk72Zkg

Weblog

How to Think Like an Economist (If, That Is, You Wish to...) http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/07/how-to-think-like-an-economist-if-that-is-you-wish-to.html | key

Explication, Language, and Mathematics in Economics http://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/03/explication-language-and-mathematics-in-economics-thinking-like-an-economist.html

Related Readings

Brad DeLong

• 2016: A Few Scattered Notes, Observations, and Examples of Graphs and Diagrams in Teaching and Doing Economics http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/02/a-few-scattered-notes-observations-and-examples-of-graphs-and-diagrams-in-teaching-and-doing-economicsthe-honest-broker.html

• 2016: Grasping Reality with All Tentacles: bradford-delong.com: : February 2016: "Live from Evans Hall: Edgeworth Boxes and Production Possibility Frontiers..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/02/page/6/

• 2007: GUEST LECTURE ON JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES

John Maynard Keynes:

• 1924: Obituary of Alfred Marshall http://delong.typepad.com/files/keynes-marshall.pdf
• 1938: Letter to Harrod on Tinbergen http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/07/791-j-m-keynes-to-harrod-10-july-1938.html
• 1931: Unemployment as a World Problem http://www.bradford-delong.com/2016/05/todays-economic-history-john-maynard-keynes-1931-unemployment-as-a-world-problem.html

Paul Krugman:

• 2016: In Defense of Funny Diagrams: https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/in-defense-of-funny-diagrams-wonkish/?_r=0

Housekeeping:

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Before Class Begins
Teaching Economics

Economics Teaching Master