I’m a big fan of Marginal Revolution, one of the best blogs focusing on economics. Tyler Cowen makes a great in a recent post that there’s a huge amount of confusion over basic policy issues.

What does this have to do with communications and PR? A lot. Read on.

Tyler quotes a New York Times piece by Alan Krueger. I’ll hit the high points here:

From where do Americans learn about the economy? By far the most common source is television. Those who rely on television the most, however, tend to be among the least informed.

The second most common source is local newspapers, which were cited much more frequently than national or big-city papers.

Friends and relatives came in third, followed by political leaders, radio and economists. The Internet was next, although a sizable contingent listed it as their most important source.

Those who consulted more sources, and consulted them more often, were a bit better informed - but not much. That’s a sobering fact for the media.

People who said they voted in the last presidential election were better informed than nonvoters.

Liberals, moderates and conservatives all did about equally well on the test of economic facts. But those who said they hadn’t thought much about their ideological leanings - one in three people - were appreciably less knowledgeable.

The takeaway: If you’re trying to do more with PR than just push laundry detergent or the newest spring line by Hugo Boss, then you need to get people educated about not just your issue, but the basic underlying policies or market forces that affect your issue. Take the lowest, most baseline understanding that you expect people to have — and lower it. A lot.

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