Economics is
your sixth sense.
Let's sharpen it. Economics
is a superpower.
Let's grow yours. Your life is
shaped by currents
you can't see .
Let's change that. Every decision is an
economic decision .
Make yours count. The economy
is weird .
So are we. Economics
that doesn't
fit the mold .

I was born an economist in my late teens, in Mr. Lees' classroom in suburban Sydney, during the slump Australia's government called the recession we had to have. My stepfather told me those unemployment numbers weren't numbers. They were people. Each with their own stories. And dignity. It stuck with me.

Most of what I've done since has been an attempt to keep faith with that sentence. A PhD at Harvard. A shelf of research on the issues that matter, like unemployment, divorce, and happiness. Over a decade of teaching Econ 101 at Michigan. A textbook with my partner Betsey Stevenson. Dozens of columns for the New York Times. Wonking out at Brookings. The credentials are real, but they aren't the point. The point is that economics, when it's taught well, is one of the most useful things anyone can carry through their life — and almost no one outside a classroom ever gets it taught well.

Television tells stories but doesn't explain. A ninety-minute lecture explains but doesn't travel. I'd like to build something in between. Work that makes you a little smarter for next time, not just this one.