What Do Economists Contribute? (Cato Institute Book)

"Do economists have much influence on government policy, particularly over, say, five or ten years? Probably not. Is that because they don't try hard enough or is it because politicians care more about the next election than about the opinion of economists? In this splendid collection of papers, some published as long ago as the 1930s, nine great economists consider these questions. The editor's illuminating introduction sorts out the area of agreement and disagreement between them."
—Mark Blaug, University of Exeter

Economists direct their research mainly to the technical frontiers of the discipline. But the actual decisions of political economy are made, not by experts, but by ordinary public officials and voters—the "Everyman." However, the task of educating the Everyman is neglected, sometimes even denigrated, by academic economists.

Daniel Klein has here gathered essays of 9 great economists of this century—Friedrich Hayek, Ronald Coase, Thomas Schelling, Gordon Tullock, Israel Kirzner, Frank Graham, William Hutt, Clarence Philbrook, and D. McCloskey—addressing the existential issue for economists: "How do we contribute to human betterment?"

The authors express their esteem for economic research firmly rooted in public issues and that contributes to public discourse. Some suggest that the academic focus on technical refinement not only diverts economists from efforts at public edification, but might even mislead economists in their own understanding of economic affairs.