Economic advice and rhetoric : why do consultants perform better than academic advisers 1. Introduction : consultants and academics in competition 2. Consultants and academics views on advice 3. Advice analysis and rhetoric 4. Espoused theory of advice argumentation 5. Advice on further growth of Amsterdam Airport 6. Advice on liberalization in the electricity market 7. Conclusions and discussion 8. Advice on advice reports discussed in the cases This book compares the approaches of consultants and academic advisers and provides an in depth analysis of their advice argumentation. Both compete on the market for economic advice with consultants enjoying a larger market share and usually obtaining higher fees. However academics criticize them for overcharging shallowness and quick and dirty methods. So are consultants clients misled or even cheated Not necessarily. The book reveals that academics have drawbacks as well; their arguments are less balanced than those of consultants and their estimates contradict each other more