That ia, clever and learned people with a rich, well documented history, studying a fantasy.
MIT’s Micro Principles class has at this point been rewritten so that it is “the Principles of Economics and Relevant Empirical Evidence.” (That’s my gloss on it not the actual title.)
My class definitely features examples from the news every week or every day.
I cite the research literature when I can, but it’s not really possible to get in depth with students who are taking their first course in the subject.
Well, bullshit, no economist ever claimed that.
And the rising salaries of the premier league plays are not a big mystery. If all clubs can fire the worst 50% of their players, their salary budget is increased. If that happens in a company like McDonalds, you can can just keep paying the rest the same or even less because everyone can flip burgers. Premier league clubs can't just pocket the "saved" money, they still need the absolute top players to win and if you don't pay your talent the most you can afford, some other club will. This has nothing to do with the failings of supply/demand curves. If anything it's a prime example of them working exactly as expected.
Do you have similar views on that book/author, or if not familiar - do you have any recommended books/courses?
I can't help but feel economics learning comes married to a politics, but it's not clear when reading.
Really any intro principles book should be fine for the basics. Mankiw is a popular choice. Wolfers and Stevenson is one I use for examples and class problems. The book my department uses is set by committee and because they give the students at our university a (very good) deal relative to competitors.
Economics does not need to come with any politics at the intro or any level, frankly.
In my class, I do criticize a lot of very stupid things DJT did as president when they intersect the material I am teaching, but I’m happy to note when Biden (who I happily voted for) does something I disagreed with.
The rest is a complete mess written by someone who is uninformed at best. The discussion of tobacco taxes and the discussion of wages in the Premier League are both particularly bad. Please don't take it seriously as a description of what's going on in the field or what the current problems are.
When I teach my freshman undergrads supply and demand in two weeks I will make very clear to them that we do not have that much empirical support for the claim that minimum wages increase unemployment and that it is an unsettled question. This is the first college-level economics class they will take in our department and I am going to make sure they understand that point. I would be willing to bet that nearly every one of my colleagues teaching similar classes throughout the US and abroad will do the same when they discuss minimum wage policies.