There's a big difference between the economic topics that get the most media attention, and areas in which the majority of economists work. I studied economics

There's a big difference between the economic topics that get the most media attention, and areas in which the majority of economists work. I studied economics for 4 years and now work as an economist. I've never met a colleague/teacher who claimed to be able to forecast inflation/GDP growth over the next four quarters or correctly identify miss-priced assets. Some examples of the questions I have seen economists address: - How much might labour supply change following a change in tax policy? - What is the impact of online advertising through different channels on a company's incremental sales? - How would a merger between two companies affect the price and quality of their output? - How can you detect collusion between bidders in tender markets? A lot of the work seemed convincing to me, and lead to insights beyond the common sense intuition of politicians/businessmen who were familiar with the domain. Even if you think economists aren't helpful for predicting inflation/GDP growth or identifying miss-priced assets (I'm inclined to agree), there are lots of important questions about market dynamics and policy evaluation where economics does give us genuine insight. I also find it really fun!