Anecdotal Economics, revisited

One of the coolest thing about this blogosphere is that people might just intentionally be looking for something, stumble upon you, and reference what you have written in their work...

Econotrix, a blogger that writes predominantly about economic issues facing Denmark and Latin America, googled the phrase Anecdotal Economics and came across something I wrote.

I was very honored to have been read, and it turns out I enjoy reading his/her blog.

I thought a little more about it, and one of the subjects where the anecdote is especially applicable is unemployment. There is a tendency of people who are doing well, making big money, perhaps owning their own business--to say, "this economy is strong, there is nothing but opportunity."
Conversely, if your doing poorly, underemployed or unemployed, unhappy or dissatisfied professionally, there is a tendency to say, "there is no opportunity for growth, the economy is weak, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

The point is: the empirical evidence stands alone, throw out the anecdotes, use the empirical evidence.