thinking like and economist case study #1

Thinking like an Economist

• Elizabeth Popp Berman

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Thinking like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy

The story of how economic reasoning came to dominate Washington between the 1960s and 1980s—and why it continues to constrain progressive ambitions today

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For decades, Democratic politicians have frustrated progressives by tinkering around the margins of policy while shying away from truly ambitious change. What happened to bold political vision on the left, and what shrunk the very horizons of possibility? In Thinking like an Economist , Elizabeth Popp Berman tells the story of how a distinctive way of thinking—an “economic style of reasoning”—became dominant in Washington between the 1960s and the 1980s and how it continues to dramatically narrow debates over public policy today. Introduced by liberal technocrats who hoped to improve government, this way of thinking was grounded in economics but also transformed law and policy. At its core was an economic understanding of efficiency, and its advocates often found themselves allied with Republicans and in conflict with liberal Democrats who argued for rights, equality, and limits on corporate power. By the Carter administration, economic reasoning had spread throughout government policy and laws affecting poverty, healthcare, antitrust, transportation, and the environment. Fearing waste and overspending, liberals reined in their ambitions for decades to come, even as Reagan and his Republican successors argued for economic efficiency only when it helped their own goals. A compelling account that illuminates what brought American politics to its current state, Thinking like an Economist also offers critical lessons for the future. With the political left resurgent today, Democrats seem poised to break with the past—but doing so will require abandoning the shibboleth of economic efficiency and successfully advocating new ways of thinking about policy.

Awards and Recognition

• A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

"Indispensable. Deeply researched and powerfully argued, it is easily one of the most important studies of American governance in many years."—Simon Torracinta, Boston Review

"Berman is well worth reading for deeply researched detail on how market-fundamentalist economics colonized the administrative state and thus weakened progressivism."—Robert Kuttner, American Prospect

"The historical account in Thinking like an Economist , which makes up the bulk of the book, is an original, insightful, and persuasive story. . . . Berman provides a fresh perspective emphasizing a wide variety of microeconomic topics, including antitrust law, antipoverty policy, health care, and the environment."—Jason Furman, Foreign Affairs

"Berman is at her best as an archeologist of ideas, digging through archives to excavate the origins of the economic style of reasoning and its takeover of federal policymaking."—Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker

"As a non-economist who writes about economics, I felt seen by Berman."—Peter Coy, New York Times

"The import of her book is clear to me. It’s OK to believe there’s value beyond markets and competition, and while efficiency can be a useful goal in many cases, sometimes we should embrace deeper values around fairness, and dare I say it, right and wrong."—John Warner, Chicago Tribune

"This outstanding work is highly recommended. . . . Essential."— Choice

"It turns out this kind of thinking—what Berman calls ‘the economic style of reasoning'—has taken over not just environmental policy but the entire US policy bureaucracy, to dismal results. It’s as much something Democrats have done to themselves as anything forced by the right. One always enjoys having one’s priors validated by scholars of much greater distinction than oneself, so I was delighted to read the book."—David Roberts, Volts

"A captivating and detailed historical account of the rise of economics and economists’ influence within the US Administration during the 1960s and 1970s."—Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche and Aurélien Goutsmedt, Oeconomia

"An engaging account of the role that economists and government advisors with an economics training played in shaping public policy in the US during the post-war period. . . .Very well written and extremely erudite."—Giulio Zanella, Oeconomia

“In what is sure to become a classic, Berman unravels how economists, and their way of thinking , came to exert such a powerful influence on the institutions that shape U.S. policymaking. Her sharp analysis shows how the resulting fixation on efficiency, a single-minded focus on market-oriented solutions, and the abandonment of political claims based on universalism, rights, and equality has undermined our ability to solve major social problems.”—Pamela Herd, Georgetown University

“This book deserves to make waves. It is original, finely written, provocative, and right. Fragments of this story have been told before—but Berman has done the hard work of crafting a compelling new narrative about where some of the most crucial aspects of our modern world have come from. Thinking like an Economist deserves a wide readership, not just among sociologists, but political scientists, economists, and everyone interested in how the economic approach came to dominate American policy debate.”—Henry Farrell, Johns Hopkins University

“If you want to understand modern policy debates in economics, you need to go beyond the shopworn neoliberalism narrative and explore what economists really are thinking. Elizabeth Popp Berman’s book provides a wonderful guide for doing just that.”—David Colander, Middlebury College

“The compass by which a nation sets its public policy tells us a good deal about its values and priorities. In this remarkable book, Elizabeth Popp Berman tells the story of how, for the United States, efficiency became the North Star with the economist as navigator. Less a partisan story than one of a shift in the culture of governance, this book sheds important new light on how economic thinking has infused both our policy priorities and the mechanisms for attempting to implement them.”—Steven G. Medema, Duke University

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Improving economics teaching and learning for over 20 years

Case study 2: Thinking and writing like an economist

Steve Cook and Duncan Watson Swansea University

Published February 2013

Part of the Handbook chapter on Assessment Design and Methods

The chapter has referred to the numerous mechanisms employed by instructors to assign grades and to therefore categorise a cohort according to ability levels. It is important, however, to recognise that they are also a multi-dimensional tool with which to encourage students to identify their own learning problems and indeed for teachers to recognise the limitations of their own assessment processes. This section provides a case study of two inter-linked courses that demonstrate such a multi-dimensional character and also describes how an economics programme can be constructed to ensure it delivers that primary requirement, to think and write like an economist.

a. Introduction

The inexperienced instructor will often perceive the essay as a self-fulfilling means to encourage the development of writing skills. This attitude neglects to take account of the time constraints facing students, which inevitably limit their development in this key area. Often encountering numerous deadlines that encourage a form of ‘just in time’ time management, learning how to construct ideas and convey them coherently becomes secondary to simply putting words onto the page (ostensibly regurgitating lecture notes). These conditions are not conducive to the refining of writing skills, which typically require continual and meticulous revision. In recognition of this issue, Economics departments will frequently seek a resolution by offering a dissertation option. However, these courses (and the individual supervisors) differ in the extent to which they nurture (and indeed teach) the skill of writing and that of time management that facilitates the writing process. The specific nature of these courses will differ, but we can typically conclude that a supervisory system will be adopted and a word limit of approximately 10,000 words will be employed. However, seeking that elusive goal of ‘writing like an economist’ requires careful consideration of curriculum design and course development processes. Economics, arguably the premier social science, is perceived to be a valuable discipline because of how it demands the ability to calculate and to quantify. In the right hands this guarantees that superficial untested conclusions are avoided, and provides precise policy recommendations that maintain a powerful subject influence. However, the claim that such proficiencies hold over the discipline can also be to the detriment of the other less influential, but equally vital, practical skills that include the delivery of ideas comprehensively and articulately to a reader. This tendency towards mathematical exactitude is arguably the Achilles’ heel of economics, especially in a plural post-modern world that has systematically questioned the prioritising of such absolutes. It certainly becomes a limitation when it impacts upon the effective teaching of the subject, and encourages a bias that neglects the discursive and philosophical skills that stimulate the mind to think laterally and question what is fixed. In general this tendency towards calculation favours an assessment system too focused on testing quantitative methods skills. Consequentially, the dissertation is then dictated to by the desire to exercise the practical value of the theoretical econometric courses provided earlier in the degree process and grading inevitably concentrates on how successful the student has been in assimilating and understanding these mathematical elements. The writing skills, so prioritised by the general course aims, become the casualty of dissertation chapters that are focused on copying and pasting technical expressions to advertise the complexity of the methodologies that have been utilised.

Below, a case study is provided that demonstrates how these problems can be avoided. In summary, it involves the creation of two inter-linked courses, Topics in Contemporary Economics and Applied Econometrics . This particular instance of cross-course symbiosis reveals how positive the effects of co-operative assessment can be, and how it can be used to ensure that the whole curriculum successfully tests the higher-order learning objectives.

b. The modules

I. module 1: topics in contemporary economics.

To facilitate the enhancement of writing skills, this course tests literature review methods whilst also providing an opportunity to assess the student’s ability to undertake a significant piece of work that tests the following key characteristics of research methods in economics:

• Interdisciplinary research: ‘Economics is a separate discipline because it has its separate, distinct body of theory and empirical knowledge. The subject-matter areas using economics are inherently multidisciplinary. For example, consumer economics draws from psychology, natural resource economics from biology, and economic policy from political science. The various subject-matter areas are dependent on a common disciplinary base. Thus, while economics is a separate discipline much of what we eventually do with it- its applications- become multidisciplinary subject matter work’ (Ethridge, 2004).
• Problem-solving research : ‘Problem-solving Research is designed to solve a specific problem for a specific decision maker. [It] often results in prescriptions or recommendation on decisions or actions’ (Ethridge, 2004).

The dissertation module is given a weighting of 30 credits, thereby accounting for a quarter of the student’s final year of study. As shown in Figure 4, for Economics departments that offer dissertation options (84 per cent of our sample of departments do offer a dissertation), this is the most popular weighting applied.

Figure 4: A survey of Level 3 Economic dissertation credit weightings

(Credits; Percentage of institutions)

Aside from considering the weighting attached to final year dissertations, the nature of the associated assessment process can be considered. Rather than just simply submitting a final written dissertation and receiving marks for according to the quality of the writing, additional assessed elements can be included. From inspection of Figure 5, it can be seen that approximately one-half of our sample of departments (47 per cent) have dissertation modules and derive the student’s grade according to the final written submission. The standard dissertation will therefore involve the student working throughout the academic year, and find them heavily reliant on supervision guidance and randomised feedback for an understanding of their progress. This framework can cultivate two substantial deficiencies. Firstly, students can be subject to unintentional discrimination due to the differing level of support offered by individual supervisors. This is often due to unavoidable staff absences throughout the year and/or reflects differentials in workloads, although the varying definitions of what the role of supervisor should actually be can also play a significant part in creating disparity in how students are guided through the process. Secondly, given the other assessment demands imposed on students, there is also the risk of falling into the trap of procrastination where dissertation work is continually delayed for the sake of other deadlines. To minimise these problems a more structured format should be considered. Such structuring can also increase the likelihood that the skills associated with the course’s learning objectives are cultivated across the full range of student abilities. While smaller structured assessments can be linked to meeting ‘lower-order learning objectives of knowledge and comprehension’, as described in Dynan and Cate (2009), they can also be used to aid the ultimate delivery of knowledge transformation:

‘The cognitive learning strategy of comprehension-monitoring along with longer writing assignments, essay writings and research papers for example, should build on the short assignments and be linked to the higher-order learning objectives of complex application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation, or “knowledge transformation’’.’ (pp. 69-70).

Through a structured assessment regime the students receive regular standardised feedback and are able to link objectives in the short assessments to the ultimate aim of synthesis and evaluation.  

Figure 5: A survey of Level 3 Economic Dissertation assessment weightings

(Written dissertation:Coursework components; Percentage of institutions)

Pertinent to the module’s approach to assessment are Tolstoy’s words:

‘every teacher must... by regarding every imperfection in the pupil's comprehension, not as a defect of the pupil, but as a defect of his own instruction, endeavour to develop in himself the ability of discovering new methods...’. (Schön, 1983, p. 66).

This introduces a key distinction in direction that is implemented by this module, whereby the up-skilling of both students and staff are inherently integrated within the assessment strategy. Hughes’s (2007) recommendation that academics should become ‘lead learners’ illustrates this philosophy, and it is one that is explored further by Rich (2010) who refers to a supervisory model in which the academic, by supervising a number of students doing dissertations in a related area, generates an ‘effective learning community’.

The creation of this ‘learning community’ could hypothetically create dissonance. There is a plethora of evidence suggesting that students enjoy dissertations for the sense of individual ownership that they create (e.g. see the review of undergraduate social science students by Todd et al. , 2004). A team framework may compromise this sense of achievement. Thus it is a delicate balancing act that establishes a supportive communal environment that is not detrimental to individual intellectual endeavour and the most effective solution was created by Swansea’s Geography department. Here the supervisor role is replaced by a ‘dissertation support group (DSG)’ mechanism. Comprising of up to 10 students, the DSG experience is intended to provide support and facilitate a forum in which students can share and make considered decisions about their own dissertation research. Each DSG meets regularly to raise and consider issues that arise from individual dissertation projects. There are two types of meetings, which are detailed below:

• Peer-group meetings, where you meet without your mentor to discuss your research.
• Mentored group meetings, where your mentor is present to offer advice.

Peer-group meetings form the most immediate support mechanism, providing a forum for seeking and receiving advice on the challenges that dissertation research poses at any given time. Students are able to use these meetings for productive and genial exchange governed by the following principles:

• solicit comments on their research ideas and progress, seeking suggestions for improvement;
• ‘brainstorm’ ideas relating to both conceptual and practical aspects of their research;
• share ideas to help formulate an appropriate research design and methodology, involving constructive but critical review of their analysis;
• seek constructive solutions to any difficulties that they are encountering;
• collectively agree an agenda to take to the next mentored group meeting;

Mentored group meetings are thus student driven and structured to address the issues that have previously been ‘thrashed out’ and collated in peer-group meetings. Within mentored meetings students can expect the following:

• advice on issues previously identified at peer-group meetings;
• discussion of progress;
• guidance about the available literature on a specific topic;
• instruction in methodological techniques covered in other modules.

Assessment methods are then necessarily delimited by the creation of incentives to ensure that students fully embrace this system, take control of their own learning, and guarantee that meetings are constructive. This is achieved by a two-tier system:

Creating a log of DSG meetings

 ‘DSG Meeting Forms’ are completed individually at the time each of the DSG meetings occurs. The full sequence of forms should therefore provide a clear and detailed record of issues relating to individual research progress, as raised and discussed during DSG meetings. Forms should be regarded as a key tool for the student, enabling a process of reasoning and action that will assist the development of the dissertation. The ‘Issues to Raise’ section should be completed prior to each meeting, and records the matters arising from individual experience that the student wishes to discuss with the group. Similarly, the ‘Solutions Discussed’ section (to be completed during or soon after the meeting) need only contain detailed notes pertinent to individual concerns, although bullet points on the main concerns of the meeting are also required. When considering advice given by peers in response to individual concerns, any suggestions proffered must be recorded, as must any reflections upon the (in)adequacy of the solutions proposed, and the subsequent actions that would be required to fulfill them must also be documented. It is expected that the student be candid about group discussions and report occasions when they feel that the DSG has not facilitated any useful recommendations. They must, however, construct a reasoned critique of any advice that is considered flawed or inadequate.

Reflective summary

This is a two-page summary of how the DSG operated (including what worked, what did not, a description of individual contributions and how other group members assisted). Thus this mark is an individual score that is yet derived entirely from the context of mutual support. Frequently, students are found to discover common concerns and working out how to overcome these problems in a group is believed a valuable skill that takes them beyond university into the world of work. However, it also allows for a critique of the very methods employed by the course. This ensures that assessment feedback is multi-directional, with students becoming the primary agent of suggestion that improves course design.

A statistical comparison of the impact of the assessment changes on student performance, in contrast to the other case studies considered in this chapter, is made more complex by the time differences involved. With the traditional dissertation module suspended several years ago, subsequent changes in entry requirements could suggest that there are differences in mean capability. Further, whilst the traditional dissertation was typically taken by students on B.Sc. schemes, the new module is only compulsory for B.A. students. This could perceivably impact on the characteristics of the cohort. To investigate the impact of the changes on student achievement we therefore run a simple regression with controls for gender, degree scheme, A-Level entry points and the change in assessment methods. To ensure that we are comparing like with like, the marks for the Topics in Contemporary Economics module are restricted to obtainment in the final dissertation report (with all other assessment elements excluded). The estimates confirm the validity of controlling for degree scheme and A-Level entry requirements. However, they also confirm that the change in design has had a significantly positive effect on student performance. Other things being equal, they suggest that the student mark increases buy approximately 7.5 percentage points.

ii. Module 2: Applied Econometrics

The other module to be considered in this section, Applied Econometrics, was fortunate to receive funding from the Economics Network via its New Learning and Teaching Projects scheme in June 2010. The underlying motivation here was the desire to construct a module with by learning-by-doing and assessment-by-doing at its very heart. To that end, the module sought to examine students’ understanding and mastery of econometric tools and techniques via the submission of six projects, with the marks of the best five counting towards the mark awarded with a weighting of 20 per cent each. Given the range of material to be covered, the new module was introduced as a year-long, 30 credit unit to be compulsory for B.Sc. schemes (Economics, Business Economics, Financial Economics etc.) and optional for B.A. schemes. A range of objectives was identified, including (i) increased ownership and engagement on the part of the students via the use of continual project-based assessment, (ii) the development of subject-specific and transferable skills, (iii) the use of topics to enhance understanding on other modules taken by students and (iv) the more appropriate incorporation of developments in information technology. On the latter point, it is perhaps surprising that many departments seek to examine the ability of students to undertake and interpret econometric analysis via paper-based examination hall-based assessment, rather than practical exercises with data. Recent decades have witnessed astonishing advances in the computational power available to those interested in undertaking applied econometric analysis. As a consequence, the nature of econometric research has changed dramatically. To ensure students are provided with a true or relevant picture of what econometrics is and what it can achieve, these developments must be incorporated in its teaching. Alternatively expressed, consider the following quote from an interview with Professor David Hendry:

‘The IBM 360/65 was at UCL, so I took buses to and from LSE. Once, when rounding the Aldwych, the bus cornered faster than I anticipated, and my box of cards went flying. The program could only be re-created because I had numbered every one of the cards’ (2004, pp. 784–85).

The above quote presents a clearly dated picture of econometric practice in comparison to the current environment of large workshops containing high powered PCs providing access to a wealth of sophisticated, user-friendly software packages and a plethora of data sources and sites. However, if assessment of students is conducted via paper-based tests in examination halls involving discussion of the Durbin-Watson or Goldfeld-Quandt tests of the 1950s and 1960s, it is difficult to argue that assessment has kept pace with its underlying subject matter. This provided a major motivation for the present module and shaped both delivery and assessment for the module in an attempt to capture and fully utilise these developments. As a result, formal sessions involved the application and evaluation of a range of modern methods and techniques, with replication and evaluation of published research being one element of this to allow students to become more involved in the research they study. In line with its stated overriding objective, assessment followed a similar pattern. As a specific example of this, the delivery of, and assessment, relating to unit root analysis can be considered. As part of the delivery this year (2010–11), students were provided with a workshop exercise involving the replication of empirical results in a well known article in the Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics . The subsequent assessment relating to this particular part of the ‘unit root section’ of the module adopted a similar approach, with an element of it requiring students to examine data employed in research published the Journal of Applied Econometrics to both replicate and extend work undertaken. In addition to providing students with practical experience to supplement lecture material, this form of exercise clearly illustrates the relevance of the methods considered and allows students not just to read but to become actively involved with published academic research that they study. In a similar fashion, later analysis of cointegration has been assessed not in a mechanical formulistic manner, but instead via analysis of the UK housing market to explore interdependencies and dynamic relationships between regions in the context of a particular posited economic theory. In each case, the intention was to demonstrate the relevance of economics (econometrics) within assessment via application to topical and important issues. As such the undeniably important formalities required for analysis are combined with a clearly defined goal or objective to (hopefully) overcome students becoming daunted or overwhelmed by the mathematical aspects of econometrics.

The ‘learning-by-doing’ emphasised here has been considered previously, at least to one extent, in the ‘teaching of statistics’ literature (see Smith, 1998; Wiberg, 2009). Similarly, in common with work such as Wiberg (2009), the current revised module was inspired by Kolb’s experiential approach to learning. As is apparent from a reading of Kolb (1984) and Kolb and Fry (1975), Kolb’s learning circle has four stages comprising of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation. This provides an excellent basis for the structuring of the newly proposed module which presents students with specific examples of econometrics in action. With the present module, the concrete experience appears in computer workshops before reflection occurs in subsequent workshop and lecture sessions. The final steps of abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation are then covered primarily via the project-based assignments set for the students to undertake.

In light of the above discussion, two obvious issues concern the extent to which other institutions employ coursework in their assessment of econometrics for final year undergraduates and how the changes introduced at Swansea have fared. With regard to the former point, this is illustrated by the results presented in Figure 6 where the examination: coursework split for the departments surveyed are provided. The most popular form of assessment is clearly via end of module examination only, with very few departments considering a module with even as much as 50 per cent coursework. Of the departments examined, one institution (which corresponds to 3 per cent of the institutions included) did employ assessment via coursework only. However, this was on the basis of a single piece of coursework rather than multiple projects each designed to address particular elements of the module. With regard to the final 12 per cent of departments surveyed, 3 per cent did employ a mix of examination and coursework which was not specified (N/S) while 9 per cent did not provide final-year econometrics.

Considering the impact of these changes upon observed module outcomes at Swansea, Table 2 presents number of students enrolled on the Applied Econometrics module, the increase in the mean module mark following the introduction of revisions to the module and the average difference between the marks obtained by students on the Applied Econometrics module and their marks elsewhere. Again, the impact of any single underlying factor is difficult to quantify as a number of changes have occurred. In addition to assessment changing in nature and frequency, the number of students enrolled on the module changed as a result of the module becoming compulsory on some schemes, and the weighting trebled from 10 to 30 credits. However, the results are relatively straightforward to interpret, to some extent at least. First, a 10 per cent point increase in the mean module mark is apparent in the year following assessment changes. In addition, the difference between the average mark obtained by students on this module and their marks elsewhere has increased from 1.7 percentage points to 9.2 percentage points. By comparing the marks on this module with the average obtained by students elsewhere, a cohort effect is controlled for, to some extent at least.

To assess student opinion on the revised module, specific questionnaires were circulated in addition to standard in-house student questionnaires employed for all modules. This supplemented anecdotal evidence obtained and the discussions of student-staff committee meetings. However, a further extremely revealing source of information on student opinion utilised was an Economics Network Focus Group specific to the module which was conducted in February 2011. The results of these alternative methods produced some very pleasing feedback. Summarising these, it can be noted that students welcomed the introduction of the revised assessment framework as a means of:

• Increasing engagement and ownership: it was noted that hard work resulted in increased understanding and good marks.
• Embedding knowledge: it was stated that in contrast to preparing for formal examination, the new scheme allows knowledge to be gained and, importantly, retained. Comments included ‘you’re actually remembering it and learning, so if anyone asked me about my course I am going to explain it well… maybe to a potential employer’.
• Providing motivation for study and highlighting the relevance of material covered: a strong emphasis was placed upon providing a clear demonstration of the relevance and importance of econometrics within the assessment process. The feedback overwhelming supported this with comments such as: ‘You actually get something that I can apply rather than this is the knowledge and that’s the end of that’ and students having ‘a good sense of achievement’.
• Increasing the effectiveness and use of feedback: this has proved to be a very positive development. As feedback on projects is provided ahead of the submission of further projects, the form of assessments upon which feedback is provided matches that which is to be undertaken subsequently. This contrasts to standard modules where feedback on coursework is often taken onboard ahead of subject assessment in an examination environment. The comments refer positively to generic and individual feedback, its usefulness for later assessment, and comment upon its speed, detail and descriptive nature.

Figure 6: A survey of Level 3 Econometrics assessment weightings

(Examination: Coursework component; Percentage of institutions)

Level-3 Applied Econometrics Student Numbers, Mean Mark and Relative Module Performance

• Assessment and monitoring
• Views on request

TrendyDigests

The Rise and Fall of the MiG-23: Lessons from the 'Flogger's' Flawed Flight

Posted: May 10, 2024 | Last updated: May 10, 2024

In the annals of military aviation, few fighters have stirred as much discussion as the Soviet-era MiG-23 'Flogger.'

Conceived in a burst of Cold War competition to rival the American F-4 Phantom, the MiG-23's journey from blueprints to battlefields has been fraught with high ambitions and harsh realities.

The 'Flogger' sought to dominate the skies with advanced swing-wing geometry and beyond-visual-range intercept capabilities; instead, it became a case study in the perils of cutting corners in military innovation.

The MiG-23 was not necessarily destined to disappoint. On paper, its design was forward-thinking for its time, as it made its operational debut in the early 1970s.

With a twin-barreled 23mm cannon, a mix of short and medium-range air-to-air missiles, and a robust landing gear allowing operations from austere runways, the aircraft had promise.

Yet, the fighter was strategically produced as an export model, compromising its performance and maintenance in favor of cost-efficiency.

This decision reflected a classic case of 'penny wise, pound foolish' as the aircraft turned out to be difficult to fly and costly to maintain, with an engine notorious for its short service life.

The MiG-23's combat record speaks volumes about its operational inadequacies.

Senior Editor Peter Suciu's stark enumeration of its defeats highlights its struggles: "Over a dozen Syrian MiG-23 jet fighters were shot down by Israeli F-15s and F-16s throughout the Arab-Israeli Wars… Iraqi MiG-23 jet fighters also fared even more poorly against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, reportedly suffering upwards of fifty losses… Libyan MiG-23s were routinely outperformed by Egyptian MiG-21 jet fighters… and two of these fighters were destroyed by two U.S. F-14 Tomcats during the 1989 Tobruk skirmish."

Even a token bit of success, such as the damaged F-111 Aardvark by an Iraqi pilot, could not redeem the MiG-23's overall poor performance during combat engagements like Operation Desert Storm, where seven Floggers fell to F-15Cs.

The MiG-23 did not live up to its NATO moniker 'Flogger' in combat. Instead, it often found itself on the receiving end of defeat.

The MiG-23's remarkable level of thoroughness and consistency in its failures has earned it the rather unfortunate honor of being retired before its intended replacement, the MiG-21 jet fighter.

Despite its shortcomings, the MiG-23 fleet, with over 5,000 units produced, still dots the skies in a few countries, testament to its endurance, if not its prowess.

The 'Flogger' will be remembered not just for its myriad operational flaws but as a potent reminder that the path to military innovation is treacherous.

The complex dance of engineering, politics, and economics can lead to compromised outcomes, and the MiG-23 is a timeless exhibit of such pitfalls. History serves as the ultimate arbiter, and for the MiG-23, its legacy is a sobering lesson in both ambition and the harshness of reality.

Relevant articles: - Russia's MiG-23 Fighter Has Something the Air Force Can't Ever Match , The National Interest - Why the MiG-23 Flogger Ranks as History's Most Disappointing Fighter Jet , nationalinterest.org

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Money blog: 'Loud budgeting' - The money-saving trend that has nothing to do with giving up your daily coffee

Created accidentally by a comedian, "loud budgeting" is breaking down the taboo of speaking about money. Read this and the rest of our Weekend Money features, and leave a comment, and we'll be back with rolling personal finance and consumer news on Monday.

Saturday 11 May 2024 09:05, UK

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Ask a question or make a comment

By Jess Sharp , Money team 

Money saving trends are constantly popping up on social media - but one in particular has been gaining huge amounts of attention.

Created accidentally by a comedian, loud budgeting is breaking down the taboo of speaking about money.

The idea is based on being firmer/more vocal about your financial boundaries in social situations and setting out what you are happy to spend your money on, instead of "Keeping up with the Joneses". 

On TikTok alone, videos published under the hashtag #loudbudgeting have garnered more than 30 million views - and that figure is continuing to climb. 

We spoke to Lukas Battle - the 26-year-old who unintentionally created the trend as part of a comedy sketch. 

Based in New York, he came up with the term in a skit about the "quiet luxury" hype, which had spread online in 2023 inspired by shows like Succession. 

The term was used for humble bragging about your wealth with expensive items that were subtle in their design - for example, Gwyneth Paltrow's  £3,900 moss green wool coat from The Row, which she wore during her ski resort trial...

"I was never a big fan of the quiet luxury trend, so I just kind of switched the words and wrote 'loud budgeting is in'. I'm tired of spending money and I don't want to pretend to be rich," Lukas said. 

"That's how it started and then the TikTok comments were just obsessed with that original idea." 

This was the first time he mentioned it...

Lukas explained that it wasn't about "being poor" but about not being afraid of sharing your financial limits and "what's profitable for you personally". 

"It's not 'skip a coffee a day and you'll become a millionaire'."

While talking money has been seen as rude or taboo, he said it's something his generation is more comfortable doing. 

"I've seen more debate around the topic and I think people are really intrigued and attracted by the idea," he said. 

"It's just focusing your spending and time on things you enjoy and cutting out the things you might feel pressured to spend your money on."  

He has incorporated loud budgeting into his own life, telling his friends "it's free to go outside" and opting for cheaper dinner alternatives.

"Having the terminology and knowing it's a trend helps people understand it and there's no awkward conversation around it," he said. 

The trend has been a big hit with so-called American "finfluencers", or "financial influencers", but people in the UK have started practising it as well. 

Mia Westrap has taken up loud budgeting by embarking on a no-buy year and sharing her finances with her 11.3k TikTok followers. 

Earning roughly £2,100 a month, she spends around £1,200 on essentials, like rent, petrol and car insurance, but limits what else she can purchase. 

Clothes, fizzy drinks, beauty treatments, makeup, dinners out and train tickets are just some things on her "red list". 

The 26-year-old PHD student first came across the idea back in 2017, but decided to take up the challenge this year after realising she was living "pay check to pay check". 

She said her "biggest fear" in the beginning was that her friends wouldn't understand what she was doing, but she found loud budgeting helped. 

"I'm still trying my best to just go along with what everyone wants to do but I just won't spend money while we do it and my friends don't mind that, we don't make a big deal out of it," she said. 

So far, she has been able to save £1,700, and she said talking openly about her money has been "really helpful". 

"There's no way I could have got this far if I wasn't baring my soul to the internet about the money I have spent. It has been a really motivating factor."

Financial expert John Webb said loud budgeting has the ability to help many "feel empowered" and create a "more realistic" relationship with money.

"This is helping to normalise having open and honest conversations about finances," the consumer affair manager at Experien said. 

"It can also reduce the anxiety some might have by keeping their financial worries to themselves." 

However, he warned it's important to be cautious and to take the reality of life into consideration. 

"It could cause troubles within friendship groups if they're not on the same page as you or have different financial goals," he said.

"This challenge isn't meant to stop you from having fun, but it is designed to help people become more conscious and intentional when it comes to money, and reduce the stigma around talking about it." 

Rightmove's keyword tool shows Victorian-era houses are the most commonly searched period properties, with people drawn to their ornate designs and features.

Georgian and Edwardian-style are second and third respectively, followed by Tudor properties. Regency ranked in fifth place.

Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister said: "Home hunters continue to be captivated by the character and charm of properties that we see in period dramas.

"Victorian homes remain particularly popular, characterised by their historic charm, solid construction, and spacious interiors. You'll often find Victorian houses in some of the most desirable locations which include convenient access to schools and transport links."

Throughout the week Money blog readers have shared their thoughts on the stories we've been covering, with the most correspondence coming in on...

• A hotly contested debate on the best brand of tea
• Downsizing homes
• The cost of Michelin-starred food

Job interview mistakes

On Wednesday we reported on a new £12m ad from PG Tips in response to it falling behind rivals such as Twinings, Yorkshire Tea and Tetley....

We had lots of comments like this...

How on earth was the PG Tips advert so expensive? I prefer Tetley tea, PG Tips is never strong enough flavour for me. Shellyleppard

The reason for the sales drop with PG Tips could be because they increased the price and reduced the quantity of bags from 240 to 180 - it's obvious. Royston

And then this question which we've tried to answer below...

Why have PG Tips changed from Pyramid shape tea bags, to a square? Sam

Last year PG Tips said it was changing to a square bag that left more room for leaves to infuse, as the bags wouldn't fold over themselves.

We reported on data showing how downsizing could save you money for retirement - more than £400,000, in some regions, by swapping four beds for two.

Some of our readers shared their experiences...

We are downsizing and moving South so it's costing us £100k extra for a smaller place, all money from retirement fund. AlanNorth

Interesting read about downsizing for retirement. We recently did this to have the means to retire early at 52. However, we bought a house in the south of France for the price of a flat in our town in West Sussex. Now living the dream! OliSarah

How much should we pay for food?

Executive chef at London's two-Michelin-starred Ikoyi, Jeremy Chan, raised eyebrows when he suggested to the Money blog that Britons don't pay enough for restaurant food.

Ikoyi, the 35th best restaurant in the world, charges £320 for its tasting menu. 

"I don't think people pay enough money for food, I think we charge too little, [but] we want to always be accessible to as many people as possible, we're always trying our best to do that," he said, in a piece about his restaurant's tie up with Uber Eats... 

We had this in... 

Are they serious? That is two weeks' worth of food shopping for me, if the rich can afford this "tasting menu" then they need to be taxed even more by the government, it's just crazy! Steve T

If the rate of pay is proportionate to the vastly overpriced costs of the double Michelin star menu, I would gladly peel quail eggs for four-hour stints over continuing to be abused as a UK supply teacher. AndrewWard

Does this two-star Michelin star chef live in the real world? Who gives a toss if he stands and peels his quails eggs for four hours, and he can get the best turbot from the fishmonger fresh on a daily basis? It doesn't justify the outrageous price he is charging for his tasting menu. Topaztraveller

Chefs do make me laugh, a steak is just a steak, they don't make the meat! They just cook it like the rest of us, but we eat out because we can't be bothered cooking! StevieGrah

Finally, many of you reacted to this feature on common mistakes in job interviews...

Those 10 biggest mistakes people make in interviews is the dumbest thing I've ever read. They expect all that and they'll be offering a £25k a year job. Why wouldn't I want to know about benefits and basic sick pay? And also a limp handshake? How's that relevant to how you work? Jre90

Others brought their own tips...

Whenever I go for an interview I stick to three points: 1. Be yourself 2. Own the interview 3. Wear the clothes that match the job you are applying Kevin James Blakey

From Sunday, eligible working parents of children from nine-months-old in England will be able to register for access to up to 15 free hours of government-funded childcare per week.

This will then be granted from September. 

Check if you're eligible  here  - or read on for our explainer on free childcare across the UK.

Three and four year olds

In England, all parents of children aged three and four in England can claim 15 hours of free childcare per week, for 1,140 hours (38 weeks) a year, at an approved provider.

This is a universal offer open to all.

It can be extended to 30 hours where both parents (or the sole parent) are in work, earn the weekly minimum equivalent of 16 hours at the national minimum or living wage, and have an income of less than £100,000 per year.

Two year olds

Previously, only parents in receipt of certain benefits were eligible for 15 hours of free childcare.

But, as of last month, this was extended to working parents.

This is not a universal offer, however.

A working parent must earn more than £8,670 but less than £100,000 per year. For couples, the rule applies to both parents.

Nine months old

In September, this same 15-hour offer will be extended to working parents of children aged from nine months. From 12 May, those whose children will be at least nine months old on 31 August can apply to received the 15 hours of care from September.

From September 2025

The final change to the childcare offer in England will be rolled out in September 2025, when eligible working parents of all children under the age of five will be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week.

In some areas of Wales, the Flying Start early years programme offers 12.5 hours of free childcare for 39 weeks, for eligible children aged two to three. The scheme is based on your postcode area, though it is currently being expanded.

All three and four-year-olds are entitled to free early education of 10 hours per week in approved settings during term time under the Welsh government's childcare offer.

Some children of this age are entitled to up to 30 hours per week of free early education and childcare over 48 weeks of the year. The hours can be split - but at least 10 need to be used on early education.

To qualify for this, each parent must earn less than £100,000 per year, be employed and earn at least the equivalent of working 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage, or be enrolled on an undergraduate, postgraduate or further education course that is at least 10 weeks in length.

All three and four-year-olds living in Scotland are entitled to at least 1,140 hours per year of free childcare, with no work or earnings requirements for parents. 

This is usually taken as 30 hours per week over term time (38 weeks), though each provider will have their own approach.

Some households can claim free childcare for two-year-olds. To be eligible you have to be claiming certain benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit, or have a child that is in the care of their local council or living with you under a guardianship order or kinship care order.

Northern Ireland

There is no scheme for free childcare in Northern Ireland. Some other limited support is available.

Working parents can access support from UK-wide schemes such as tax credits, Universal Credit, childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare.

Aside from this, all parents of children aged three or four can apply for at least 12.5 hours a week of funded pre-school education during term time. But over 90% of three-year-olds have a funded pre-school place - and of course this is different to childcare.

What other help could I be eligible for?

Tax-free childcare  - Working parents in the UK can claim up to £500 every three months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of their children to help with childcare costs. 

If the child is disabled, the amount goes up to £1,000 every three months (up to £4,000 a year).

To claim the benefit, parents will need to open a tax-free childcare account online. For every 80p paid into the account, the government will top it up by 20p.

The scheme is available until the September after the child turns 11.

Universal credit  - Working families on universal credit can claim back up to 85% of their monthly childcare costs, as long as the care is paid for upfront. The most you can claim per month is £951 for one child or £1,630 for two or more children.

Tax credits -  People claiming working tax credit can get up to 70% of what they pay for childcare if their costs are no more than £175 per week for one child or £300 per work for multiple children.

Two big economic moments dominated the news agenda in Money this week - interest rates and GDP.

As expected, the Bank of England held the base rate at 5.25% on Wednesday - but a shift in language was instructive about what may happen next.

Bank governor Andrew Bailey opened the door to a summer cut to 5%, telling reporters that an easing of rates at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 20 June was neither ruled out nor a fait accompli.

More surprisingly, he suggested that rate cuts, when they start, could go deeper "than currently priced into market rates".

He refused to be drawn on what that path might look like - but markets had thought rates could bottom out at 4.5% or 4.75% this year, and potentially 3.5% or 4% next.

"To make sure that inflation stays around the 2% target - that inflation will neither be too high nor too low - it's likely that we will need to cut Bank rate over the coming quarters and make monetary policy somewhat less restrictive over the forecast period," Mr Bailey said.

You can read economics editor Ed Conway's analysis of the Bank's decision here ...

On Friday we discovered the UK is no longer in recession.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.6% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics said.

This followed two consecutive quarters of the economy shrinking.

The data was more positive than anticipated.

"Britain is not just out of recession," wrote Conway. "It is out of recession with a bang."

The UK has seen its fastest growth since the tailend of the pandemic - and Conway picked out three other reasons for optimism.

1/ An economic growth rate of 0.6% is near enough to what economists used to call "trend growth". It's the kind of number that signifies the economy growing at more or less "normal" rates.

2/ 0.6% means the UK is, alongside Canada, the fastest-growing economy in the G7 (we've yet to hear from Japan, but economists expect its economy to contract in the first quarter).

3/ Third, it's not just gross domestic product that's up. So too is gross domestic product per head - the number you get when you divide our national income by every person in the country. After seven years without any growth, GDP per head rose by 0.4% in the first quarter.

GDP per head is a more accurate yardstick for the "feelgood factor", said Conway - perhaps meaning people will finally start to feel better off.

For more on where Friday's figures leaves us, listen to an Ian King Business Podcast special...

The Money blog is your place for consumer news, economic analysis and everything you need to know about the cost of living - bookmark news.sky.com/money .

It runs with live updates every weekday - while on Saturdays we scale back and offer you a selection of weekend reads.

Check them out this morning and we'll be back on Monday with rolling news and features.

The Money team is Emily Mee, Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young and Ollie Cooper, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. The blog is edited by Jimmy Rice.

If you've missed any of the features we've been running in Money this year, or want to check back on something you've previously seen in the blog, this archive of our most popular articles may help...

Loaves of bread have been recalled from shelves in Japan after they were found to contain the remains of a rat.

Production of the bread in Tokyo has been halted after parts of a "small animal" were found by at least two people.

Pasco Shikishima Corp, which produces the bread, said 104,000 packages have been recalled as it apologised and promised compensation.

A company representative told Sky News's US partner network, NBC News, that a "small black rat" was found in the bread. No customers were reported to have fallen ill as a result of ingesting the contaminated bread.

"We deeply apologise for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties," the spokesman said.

Pasco added in a separate statement that "we will do our utmost to strengthen our quality controls so that this will never happen again. We ask for your understanding and your co-operation."

Japanese media reports said at least two people who bought the bread in the Gunma prefecture, north-west of Tokyo, complained to the company about finding a rodent in the bread.

Record levels of shoplifting appear to be declining as fewer shopkeepers reported thefts last year, new figures show. 

A survey by the Office for National Statistics shows 26% of retailers experienced customer theft in 2023, down from a record high of 28% in 2022.

This comes despite a number of reports suggesting shoplifting is becoming more frequent. 

A  separate ONS finding , which used police crime data, showed reports of shoplifting were at their highest level in 20 years in 2023, with law enforcements logging 430,000 instances of the crime.

Let's get you up to speed on the biggest business news of the past 24 hours. 

A privately owned used-car platform is circling Cazoo Group, its stricken US-listed rival, which is on the brink of administration.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk is a leading contender to acquire Cazoo's marketplace operation, which would include its brand and intellectual property assets.

The process to auction the used-car platform's constituent parts comes after it spent tens of millions of pounds on sponsorship deals in football, snooker and darts in a rapid attempt to gain market share.

The owner of British Airways has reported a sharp rise in profits amid soaring demand for trips and a fall in the cost of fuel.

International Airlines Group said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was €68m (£58.5m) - above expectations and up from €9m (£7.7m) during the same period in 2023.

The company, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said earnings had soared thanks to strong demand, particularly over the Easter holidays.

The prospect of a strike across Tata Steel's UK operations has gained further traction after a key union secured support for industrial action.

Community, which has more than 3,000 members, said 85% voted in favour of fighting the India-owned company's plans for up to 2,800 job losses, the majority of them at the country's biggest steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales.

Tata confirmed last month it was to press ahead with the closure of the blast furnaces at the plant, replacing them with electric arc furnaces to reduce emissions and costs.

In doing so, the company rejected an alternative plan put forward by the Community, GMB and Unite unions that, they said, would raise productivity and protect jobs across the supply chain.

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