Ask and You May Learn

Is there any reason besides a desire to learn, or to make entry into a Ph.D. programme easier to do a Masters in economics that would not be better served by an alternative option?

I'd be interested to learn the average economist's opinion of net neutrality.

If any, what are your top 3 favorite economics blogs.

What is the one finding or principle in economics that you believe is so strongly supported by evidence and logic that you're shocked that so many other economists disagree with it?

Economists must make simplifying assumptions when building a model; however, are there any assumptions that you once accepted that you are now ashamed to have accepted (perhaps after seeing policies or countries collapse)?

Economics as a discipline in the 20th century has accepted many models containing unrealistic simplifying assumptions, because such models offered mathematical tractability, do you think this has helped the development of the science more, or hurt it more?

"why didn't you get a real job"

Questions I’d like to see:

-- Should the government impose higher taxes on signaling goods, like diamonds?

-- Do pigouvian taxes work in practice? (How good is the government at estimating the size of externalities?)

-- Assuming global warming is problem, would a tax or a cap-and-trade system be more efficient?

It seems to me that the public at large overestimates the amount of controversy in the economics profession. Perhaps someone could write a book called the "One handed economist" summarizing what most economists agree on. The data from AEA survey would make the writing of such a book easier.

1. I second liberty's question, and re-phrase it slightly:

What assumption or simplification made for the purpose of economic analysis do you believe is least unfounded, leading to a disparity between theoretical and actual results?

2. Do you believe there is any support to the proposition that government involvement in market processes should more properly be viewed as a three-sided equilibrium problem involving competing interests of suppliers, consumers and government, rather than a two party problem constrained or hindered by governmental action?

Does increased government spending/lower taxes during recessions, and decreased spending/higher taxes during expansions, result in faster long-term economic growth?

(This is common folk-economic wisdom, and certainly a widely held belief among economists, but to what extent/degree do economists really believe it?)

In a fractional reserve banking system, what is the optimal reserve ratio to maximise the public benefit?