<story><title>The Economy</title><url>http://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/book/text/0-3-contents.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>robotresearcher</author><text>&amp;gt; We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing
  problem that economists should address?’&lt;p&gt;What should we ask Computer Science students?&lt;p&gt;I can try it on a couple of hundred tomorrow and get back to you. I don&amp;#x27;t know what they will say.</text></item><item><author>michaelt</author><text>I guess the parts you skimmed didn&amp;#x27;t include the introduction, eh?&lt;p&gt;It says:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  We want to change the way economics is taught [...]
  Students in economics all over the world were asking,
  just as I had asked a few years previously: ‘Why has the
  subject of economics become detached from our experience
  of real life?’
  [...]
  we have tried an experiment in classrooms around the
  world. We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing
  problem that economists should address?’
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
...and the that experiment said inequality. At least according to students at three universities and professional economists at two central banks.&lt;p&gt;If you want to write a book that starts with motivations before delving into the nuts and bolts, and you ask customers what they think is most important and they all say the same thing, it seems reasonable enough to put that first.</text></item><item><author>niuzeta</author><text>I find it very dubious that the &amp;quot;Income Inequality&amp;quot; sits at the very first section, and &amp;quot;Supply-and-demand&amp;quot; at the eighth. I&amp;#x27;m no established economist, but my understanding is you start at the foundational idea then move on to the its ramifications and symptoms.&lt;p&gt;Why does the income inequality deserve the first seat? It definitely is one of the greatest(if not the greatest) issues of our generation, but must it precede foundations?&lt;p&gt;Skimming through the &amp;quot;Income Inequality&amp;quot; section did not make it better - first exercise asks &amp;quot;What do you &lt;i&gt;think&lt;/i&gt; the figure would&amp;#x27;ve looked like in 14th century - I imagine it&amp;#x27;s to highlight how it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;unfair&amp;quot; now compared to the previous history? It talks about the 90&amp;#x2F;10 ratio and the word &amp;quot;richest&amp;quot; appears 21 times in the first page alone. &amp;quot;richest 10%&amp;quot; being 11 of them.&lt;p&gt;I understand the study of economics is more about interpretation of the data and interpolation of trends based on (often seemingly ideological) school of thought, but this first look betrays a specific narrative.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>skybrian</author><text>You could just go with: &amp;quot;what is the most pressing problem that computer scientists should address?&amp;quot; It seems like it might result in some interesting data.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Economy</title><url>http://www.core-econ.org/the-economy/book/text/0-3-contents.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>robotresearcher</author><text>&amp;gt; We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing
  problem that economists should address?’&lt;p&gt;What should we ask Computer Science students?&lt;p&gt;I can try it on a couple of hundred tomorrow and get back to you. I don&amp;#x27;t know what they will say.</text></item><item><author>michaelt</author><text>I guess the parts you skimmed didn&amp;#x27;t include the introduction, eh?&lt;p&gt;It says:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  We want to change the way economics is taught [...]
  Students in economics all over the world were asking,
  just as I had asked a few years previously: ‘Why has the
  subject of economics become detached from our experience
  of real life?’
  [...]
  we have tried an experiment in classrooms around the
  world. We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing
  problem that economists should address?’
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
...and the that experiment said inequality. At least according to students at three universities and professional economists at two central banks.&lt;p&gt;If you want to write a book that starts with motivations before delving into the nuts and bolts, and you ask customers what they think is most important and they all say the same thing, it seems reasonable enough to put that first.</text></item><item><author>niuzeta</author><text>I find it very dubious that the &amp;quot;Income Inequality&amp;quot; sits at the very first section, and &amp;quot;Supply-and-demand&amp;quot; at the eighth. I&amp;#x27;m no established economist, but my understanding is you start at the foundational idea then move on to the its ramifications and symptoms.&lt;p&gt;Why does the income inequality deserve the first seat? It definitely is one of the greatest(if not the greatest) issues of our generation, but must it precede foundations?&lt;p&gt;Skimming through the &amp;quot;Income Inequality&amp;quot; section did not make it better - first exercise asks &amp;quot;What do you &lt;i&gt;think&lt;/i&gt; the figure would&amp;#x27;ve looked like in 14th century - I imagine it&amp;#x27;s to highlight how it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;unfair&amp;quot; now compared to the previous history? It talks about the 90&amp;#x2F;10 ratio and the word &amp;quot;richest&amp;quot; appears 21 times in the first page alone. &amp;quot;richest 10%&amp;quot; being 11 of them.&lt;p&gt;I understand the study of economics is more about interpretation of the data and interpolation of trends based on (often seemingly ideological) school of thought, but this first look betrays a specific narrative.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rdrey</author><text>I&amp;#x27;d like to see the answer for both Economics and Computer Science. Should be interesting.</text></comment>