I’ve taken economics twice in my life, but never from very good teachers.

The first was a recently minted educator who was not any more familiar with the principles of economics than we were. She scanned the book ahead of us then presented its contents only somewhat correctly. I don’t think the poor thing was ready for the coldly calculating, deeply cynical minds of 17-year-olds who spent every waking moment boosting GPAs to try to gain entry to our top choice universities. We wanted an I.V. of facts to be regurgitated for the benefit of exam proctors. She wanted a lively discussion and fun group projects.

The next time I took economics was in my MBA program. This time we had a professor visiting from Spain, a country whose economic prowess has not been notable since Isabella and Ferdinand hoarded enough gold bouillon to fund expedition and inquisition. This professor kept changing the syllabus, which violated the academic code. For some reason he once stood on a table as he lectured …