Diagrams That Survive the Elevator Door

A diagram without labelled assumptions is wallpaper. We ask learners to write the regime — fixed or floating capital mobility — before drawing curves.

Shocks need verbs. “Demand shifts” is vague; “temporary fiscal expansion under imperfect capital mobility” invites the right argument.

If the diagram cannot survive a skeptical question in thirty seconds, it is not ready for the elevator door. We practise footnotes aloud until the speaker sounds bored — that boredom signals clarity.