‘Knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the completion
of knowing. Men of the present, however, make knowledge and
action two different things and go not forth to practice,
because they hold that one must first have knowledge before one
is able to practise. Each one says, ‘I proceed to investigate
and discuss knowledge; I wait until knowledge is perfect and
then go forth to practise it.’ Those who to the very end of life
fail to practise also fail to understand. This is not a small
error, nor one that came in a day. By saying that knowledge and
practice are a unit, I am herewith offering a remedy for the
disease.’ Wang Yang-ming, Chinese philosopher, 1472–1529 The
main aim of economics education is to enable students to ‘think
like economists’. According to recent research, thinking like an
economist includes not only analytical or problem-solving skills
but also creative skills, which ‘help determine how to frame
questions, what tools and principles apply to particular
problems, what data and infor