system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What are the most commonly held misconceptions about economics among people with at least some background?
gpt
One of the main ones is that there is some sort of "battle" in economics between Keynesians and Austrians (or between "neo-liberal" economics and other schools that supposedly pay more attention to inequality and similar issues, or would have correctly predicted the 2008 crisis, and so on). The truth is that there is very much a consensus in modern econ, based around the use of clear mathematical models and the scientific method. There are obviously disagreements between economists, but they are very different from what is often portrayed in the media or on most internet forums. None of these "alternative schools of thought" predicted the crisis any better than the standard theories, and most economists are very concerned about rising inequality and are constantly looking for new models that would help them to better analyze it.