ABSTRACT
Economists' role could be different; there are numerous more active roles economists could play. Policy makers simply do not believe that economists' specialized knowledge is a necessary input into the decisionmaking process. Academic bureaucracy, course preparation, grading, and following the literature take varying amounts of time, but assuming economists devote twenty hours a week to the activities during the school year at the higher-level schools; economists can devote half their time to research. Economists' role in the functioning of society comes from this research. Classical economists used contextual heuristic arguments that required a reader to bring to the reading of their work sensitivity to institutions, politics, and moral considerations. Graduate schools are designed primarily to prepare economists to conduct the research, and economists' indirect influence on the policies and activities of government and business stems in large part from this research.
