Why do so many Americans still feel pessimistic about the economy? These two economists compute several measures of the actual dollar cost of job loss and find it is still very high. The silver lining? It is at last starting to fall.

More than half of high school students study economics. But what have they learned? This remarkably resourceful author finds that they learn about economics but not the economy. There are some mentions of poverty and the minimum wage but none of insider trading and downsizing in these texts, but a lot about the basic tools of neoclassical economics. Is that the right curriculum for a nation dealing with high unemployment and inequality? Gans thinks not.

Workers’ cooperatives in Argentina in 2001 were a response to deal with the economic crisis of the time. The author says these workers’ cooperatives may again help Argentina weather the most recent storm. They disconnect the local economy from the international one.

Economic analyses of the long-term costs of mitigating climate change are unknowable, argue these authors. To base climate policy on them is irresponsible. However, the authors support the moral argument that it is necessary to control climate because its likely devastating effect on human civilization is reason enough to pursue climate mitigation policies. This technical paper is a valuable retort to economic oversimplifications prevalent in the climate change literature.