Excel is a great tool. Having used it professionally for a number of years, in the midst of other financial professionals, I can say with a somewhat well-quali

Excel is a great tool. Having used it professionally for a number of years, in the midst of other financial professionals, I can say with a somewhat well-qualified opinion that the majority of people using it should not be. Or rather, they should be treated as if they were using a Word processor, which is what Excel essentially is for them: A tablified "Word processor" with a built-in calculator. Who knows what they typed in, nor how they tied it together? For work of any complexity -- no, really, not infrequently even for the apparently simplest of work -- if the result is of any importance, you had better get the original workbook file and check it for yourself. Excel can be used, very well and very efficiently, for enormously complex work. But... you have to know what you're doing. And that takes not only time but significant will and effort to achieve -- something that even many professionals do not have -- have not demonstrated, in my experience. Construct calculations in ways that create robustness. Build in cross checks and alternate paths of calculation to double check your work. Audit your own work and perform manual calculations to verify. Essentially, you've built a software product and you need to test it. You want to know what the results of "programming for the masses" initiatives might look like when applied to society? Well, Excel is one (if not necessarily the best) extant example. It's not all roses. -- P.S. We insist that grade school students "show their work" when doing math. How should this not apply to professional economists?