[azernik]

I remember my Econ 101 teacher being much more cautious - noting that trade produces benefits on average, and that the benefits everyone iff there is political action to redistribute the benefits; and that fiscal is better than monetary stimulus, but in most Western political systems that's harder to push through.

Generally those simple adages are very much spherical-cow observations, with assumptions of rational (i.e. operating in the system's interest) leadership, rule of law, and priced-in externalities; when those professors go from their intro classes to their research they start to account for more of the real-world complications.

[bgorman]

Any econ 101 teacher who goes off script talking about politics shouldn't be taken seriously. My micro and macro classes did not mention political actions at all unless you consider describing the potential actions of the Federal reserve as inherently political.

[azernik]

Any econ 101 class that talks seriously about a) fiscal effects, or b) trade (and hence the usefulness of Pareto-optimal game states) needs to talk about politics, because they are part of the system in question.

This professor specifically specialized in the study of recessions, in which government action is essential; and took special interest in the effectiveness of different government interventions.

Studying these subjects without talking about policy and politics is like studying security and ignoring human-factors research. I am in fact seriously skeptical about the quality of your econ classes that did not mention the effects of government spending, trade policy, taxation, or price controls.

[dlp211]

Economics is inheritantly political. To not talk about politics in an economy class is to deny reality.

[icebraining]

Or worse, to assume their implied political position as "natural" and everything else as a "distortion".

[nicoburns]

I would argue the opposite. Especially for Macro. I'd argue that any econ 101 teacher that doesn't consider politics shouldn't be taken seriously. Ignoring political realities is precisely what is wrong with a lot of (but by no means all) economic reasoning in our society.