Modern economics is in terrible shape. But economics education appears to be worse still. This becomes clear when discussing basic economics with those who have taken courses in the field. Rather than doing away with economic misunderstandings and outright nonsense, economics education apparently provides students with a pseudoscientific rationale for their illusions.Two such ideas are annoyingly common. One is the view that markets can only work under perfect conditions. The other is that economic growth requires that profits tend toward zero. Yes, they are ridiculous, but they are so commonly held (and believed so strongly) that they suggest a fundamental failure of economics education. Whether or not they are explicitly taught, it is easy to see how an economics education that focuses
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