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The Role of Economists in Public Policy
From forecasters to expert witnesses—how technical authority grew and where it collides with democracy.
Economists staff central banks, treasuries, regulatory bodies, and congressional budget offices. Their models set expectations for legislation, merger review, and crisis response.
Power and limits
Expertise can clarify trade-offs but cannot dissolve values. Cost-benefit analysis quantifies some harms while narrowing others; rational-expectations models discipline policy while simplifying politics.
Reading this site
When you open a map of trade or jobs, you are seeing data that analysts debate inside institutions sketched in “The Economist’s Hour.” Glossary bridges help you unpack the vocabulary behind the charts.