Michael Strain says that even economists are incorrectly negative on the typical economics 101 course. To his rah-rah argument, I only have the time and inclination to say right now: the ceteris paribus (all other things constant) foundation of demand and supply, as presented in introductory economics, is false all too often, therefore “demand” and “supply” curves are meaningless. Discuss.
We do need to improve how we teach economics, and to improve economics itself. But I think more serious consideration of networks, instead of markets, and the overall economy, in some sort of general equilibrium way, along with evolutionary arguments, are much more promising avenues to get on than becoming yet more “parrots who say supply and demand all the time”, to paraphrase an epigraph I recall from an introductory textbook by Paul Samuelson, which I read several decades ago.
The curious incident of DD on the Web 