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There are some stories that appear and reappear in the media during every economic downturn. Commentators note breathlessly that students are moving away from majors in the traditional arts and sciences, and particularly away from those in the humanities—fields like literature, philosophy, history and art. Students who major in liberal-arts disciplines are having a harder time finding jobs than their more professionally oriented peers in business and engineering, and they are making less if and when they do find employment.

Worse, however, policymakers are now getting into the act, with several governors making proposals to charge humanities majors more for their degrees, or to defund programs in the traditional arts and sciences altogether.