Read With Caution

Especially when newspapers or magazines are writing about business or economics. I've mentioned before how the concept of "reserves" are widely misunderstood when the media reports about accounting scandals. Brad Delong has another great example of not getting it on his blog. It traces a statement by economist Gregory Mankiw about outsourcing from the source to the Washington Post to various politicians' responses. Mankiw's idea is fairly subtle, and doesn't get transmitted well--and hell subsequently breaks loose.