Tanner Lecture, Diane Coyle - the public responsibilities of the economist

The lecture argues that economists have public responsibilities to be brave when they know they are right, modest when they don't, and honest about their opinions and interests, while communicating better with the public.

It explains that economists must tell politicians that all solutions have costs, using cost/benefit analyses and examples like taxi regulation and behavioural economics in directory enquiries.

It highlights the inherent conflict between technical expertise and political practicality, citing Greece and Italy's technocrats, and the difficulty of translating economic reports into policy due to vested interests.

It discusses abstraction of life to key features, using Picasso's Cockerel as an analogy, and the role of economists in producing evidence for reports like Barker, Dilnot, and Lyons.

Yes, it covers the history of macroeconomics from Keynesianism versus monetarism, Goodhart's Law, the Great Moderation, and post-crash debates like Krugman versus Lucas.

Economists should be brave when right, modest when uncertain, honest about funding and interests, and communicate better with non-economists to avoid reputational damage.