It would probably be fair to say that economists have an image problem. Here in Ireland they are accused of being doomsayers if they talk down the economy and being in the pockets of the banks and the builders if they talk it up.

Tim Harford and a number of other young economists are beginning to change that notion. With real world experience at Shell and the World Bank, he is now a leader writer and columnist with the Financial Times. He also claims to be the only economist in the world to run a problem page, in which FT readers' personal problems are humorously answered using economic theory.

The blog is named after his recent book which, along with Freakonomics by award-winning economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner, has taken economics out of academia and on to the street. It's also the name of his weekly column for the FT.

Both in print and on the web, Harford attempts, as he puts it himself, to "reveal the economic ideas behind everyday experiences". Those who have read Harford's book will know he has a slight obsession with coffee culture. A recent column on research from the US which showed that women take 20 seconds longer to get served their latte than men has brewed up a storm on his blog's comments.

After Martin Jol's recent sacking from Tottenham Hotspur, Harford cited research by a Cambridge economist that suggested Premiership teams should sack their managers more often.

Clearly Harford inhabits a world far away from the purchasing managers indices and housing unit completions that seem to be the stock in trade of Irish economists.

Through his blog, Harford has promised to write a column on how much mint-flavoured Baileys adds to the sum of human happiness. That should be a popular Christmas read for economists.