The Uses and Misuses of Economics in Daily Journalism

Prodded by the Great Recession, journalists and economists are gradually altering their views of the economy, freeing themselves from the mainstream paradigm of the last thirty years: that the natural tendency of a market economy caught in a recession is to right itself, returning to full or nearly full employment and healthy growth with a minimum of help from government through public employment, public works projects, or a combination of the two. The evolution is slow, however, making most journalists and economists reluctant to engage in a full-throated appeal for government help.