Other Things Equal: Truth in Labeling, AS/AD Analysis, and Pedagogy

If you reduce a multi-dimensional relationship to a two dimensional graph, you are going to cause some confusion. If you do so without being explicitly clear about the definitions and assumptions you are making in the reduction, you will likely cause significant confusion. The AS/AD labeling terminology misleads both students and economists and has been used inconsistently within some textbooks. New names are suggested--aggregate equilibrium demand (for aggregate demand) and aggregate supply path (for aggregate supply) to alert students to the difference between the aggregate curves and their micro counterparts and to the differences in the specifications underlying those curves.