Would Somebody Please Keep Ben Stein from Calling Himself an Economist? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

That is my one prayer today: that somehow something will keep Ben Stein from saying that he is an economist--that would brighten my day considerably.

Here's the latest:

Assorted Mysteries of Economic Life - New York Times: [W]hy is unemployment so low when the economy is supposedly slowing rapidly? If gross domestic product grew at only roughly 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2007, why is unemployment at barely 4.5 percent?...

The confusion between levels and changes is breathtaking. Unemployment is rising whenever GDP growth is slow (or negative). Unemployment is falling when GDP growth is high. But no chain of reasoning known to humanity would produce the expectation that slow GDP growth is associated with a high level of unemployment or that fast GDP growth is associated with a low level of unemployment. None. The fastest GDP growth on record since the Korean War came at the very start of 1983, when the unemployment rate was the highest it has been since the Great Depression.

It's a misconception like... like... like this: "Dear Dr. Gridlock: I took my foot off the accelerator three second ago. Why is the car still going 60? Why doesn't the car instantaneously stop when I take my foot off the accelerator?"

So if only Ben Stein would stop calling himself an economist, it would brighten my day, so I pray for it.

Note that I no longer prayer for competent editors at the New York Times who would exercise even a little quality control. Of that I have despaired.

Comments

[pgl]

Too bad his dad is no longer with us. Herb would have to call sonny and tell him to cease writing on economic matters. After all, Ben is embarrassing Herb's good name.

[MattF]

I've wondered how Stein ended up in the pages of the NYT... My current guess is that his assignment is a column on 'Financial advice for the unsophisticated' but that he keeps trying to expand his territory into 'Actual economics'. Unfortunately, the obvious solution -fire him, and find someone who is actually knowledgeable about financial advice- is apparently politically impossible. One can only wonder how the other NYT columnists feel about this.

[jerry]

D'oh! Sadly, the title to this post should have been:

"Would Someone Please Keep Ben Stein from Calling Himself an Economist? Anyone? Anyone?"

[save_the_rustbelt]

Anyone can call themselves an economist, just as anyone can call themselves a writer or journalist.

[G]

The lag relationship between GPD & employment levels is basic info taught in high school level economics. A better question is can we trust any numbers from the Bush Admin ? If they screw around with DOJ , EPA or even the Pentagon , why do we assume BLS, BEA or Treasury are sacred cows ?

[G]

OOPs make that GDP in above post

[Tomas]

Ben Stein? didnt he have a gameshow premised on him being clever? In the land of the blind and all that, I guess.

[Barry]

In addition to the whole rates vs quantities problem, please recall that there was a downward shift in the employment participation ratio in the 2001-2 erar(IIRC). A bunch of people dropped out of the labor market, and are not counted as unemployed. IRR the amounts corretly, we're actually at 6.-6.5% unemployment, if we compare Bush apples to Clinton apples.

[Lisa]

Ben Stein is employed at the Times because he provides comfort to the rich subscribers whom the Times falls all over itself to woo and retain. The fake self-consciousness, the fretting about the stock market, the occasional furrowed brow over the latest megascandal emanating from Wall Street or Houston - it's all about catering to the hyperwealthy while appearing to have some remnant of a social conscience.