Why doesn’t The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson get more attention? I rarely see his stuff linked from other big economics-oriented liberal bloggers and he seems to always be overshadowed by the other writers at his own publication — folks like James Fallows, Ta-Nahesi Coates and (barf) Megan McCardle.
I actually discovered Thompson last year while browsing The Atlantic’s site after going there to read a post by Fallows (who I also love). Here’s Thompson’s bio blurb:
He is a visiting research fellow at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget at the New America Foundation. Derek has also written for Slate, BusinessWeek, and the Daily Beast. He has appeared as a guest on radio and television networks, including NPR, the BBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.
I had never heard of him before but I immediately liked the way he explained complex economic issues in non-wonky terms, and then had a way with showing how economic issues affect our lives in interesting ways.
Need some examples? Check out his recent posts on whether or not the Stimulus worked (short answer: yes, probably), his brilliant proposal to create a “safety net for entrepreneurs” that encourages creative people to start businesses, a look at how the world’s 10 most expensive cities got that way and his surprisingly-free-of-opprobrium take on how the recession has affected the lives of the millennial generation.
