Ralph Nader Fans? Not Economists!

Thomas Sowell has a piece on the editorial of the Wall Street Journal completely bashing Ralph Nader as being completely out of the mainstream with regard to Economics, the article states,

Some years ago, the distinguished international-trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati was visiting Cornell University, giving a lecture to graduate students during the day and debating Ralph Nader on free trade that evening. During his lecture, Prof. Bhagwati asked how many of the graduate students would be attending that evening's debate. Not one hand went up.

Amazed, he asked why. The answer was that the economics students considered it to be a waste of time. The kind of silly stuff that Ralph Nader was saying had been refuted by economists ages ago. The net result was that the audience for the debate consisted of people largely illiterate in economics and they cheered for Mr. Nader.


The article goes on to give basic fundamental economic principles that the public is ignorant about, and how those principles should be corrected by Economist. A must read article for anyone interested in making a sound judgement on this upcoming election.

Comments

  1. ZeemanJuly 22, 2004 at 2:15 AM

    I think many people do not really understand economics. However, Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations', published in 1776, is good book to start with because it explains the basic economic ideas that has revolutionized the world. The dynamics of supply and demand are clearly explained, and the struggles between our individual rights and the powers of the state are revealed. Any intelligent person voting in the coming Presidential election should practice the habit of reading good books and analyze for themselves what is really going on in our socio-political world.

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