“Someone like me” is just as credible as an academic or technical expert, and far more credible than a CEO or government official-a shift in trust toward family and friends glaringly evident on social media. The Edelman Trust Barometer for 2017 finds that in two-thirds of countries, fewer than 50 percent of people trust mainstream business, government, media, and nongovernmental organizations to do the right thing. The changing landscape of trust undermines experts as well. A recent blog post by Bank of England staff members analyzed the linguistic complexity of the bank’s publications and found that only one in five people could understand them. These boundaries can reduce their effectiveness, especially given the many alternative sources of information.

Experts distinguish themselves from nonexperts through credentials, use of jargon, control over academic journals, and influence over training of new experts. “Likes” and “dislikes” and reviews of thousands of individuals can build trust.īut there are downsides: information that is difficult to verify can be overwhelming algorithms create echo chambers of like-minded people who never see another side fake news distorts reality anonymity gives power to those who may abuse it and a world of more revenue for more clicks rewards the shrillest voice and promotes extreme views.Įxperts, who sift through information and make informed judgments, are just one more voice amid the cacophony, and their inaccessible language often renders them the least heard. The wisdom of crowds can generate restaurant reviews, rate products and services, and offer new thinking on a range of issues. People can go to the doctor armed with information about their illnesses and alternative treatments. The digitization of knowledge and its ready availability have been hugely democratizing and empowering. According to a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University, half of people with access to the Internet get their news from social media-double the number since 2013 in the United States. Technology gives people access to more information, changes how they get it, and affects how they form opinions. To build on this progress, we need reliable experts who command public confidence.īut experts today don’t have their old monopoly on authority. Average world incomes are more than 20 times higher thanks to better economic policies, particularly in developing economies. People live about 20 years longer than they did in 1950 thanks to cleaner water and better sanitation and health care. They have helped tackle disease, reduce poverty, and improve human welfare. Then others one by one mention additional helpful Roman innovations until finally Reg must restate his question: “Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?!” The rebels work themselves into a frenzy culminating in a shout from their leader, Reg: “What have they ever given us?” After a pause, one of the rank and file gingerly points out that the local aqueduct has been useful. Recall Monty Python’s Life of Brian, in which a group called the People’s Front of Judea organizes a rebellion against the Roman Empire.

Social media and the Internet make information widely available without experts’ input, news is targeted to individual interests and preferences, and people increasingly choose whom to follow and trust. Not only are experts seen as having gotten it wrong, their monopoly on opinion has been weakened by technology.

Confidence in economists, pollsters, and experts in general has been shaken. “Why did nobody notice it?” Queen Elizabeth II famously asked the faculty at the London School of Economics in November 2008, just after the financial crisis erupted.Īlmost a decade later, people are asking experts the same question following the unforeseen events of 2016-including the UK vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s election as president of the United States. 3Īs access to information burgeons, experts are more crucial than ever Finance & Development, September 2017, Vol.

When can you trust the experts pdf