In 2011, Italy narrowly avoided financial collapse, prompting the formation of a technocratic government tasked with enacting sweeping reforms. Although these measures stabilized public finances, they drew fierce opposition and highlighted a broader pattern of public skepticism toward expert advice. Similar dynamics unfolded during the 2016 Brexit referendum, when voters dismissed economic forecasts, and in Donald Trump’s election, where nationalist rhetoric overshadowed warnings on protectionism. These events highlight a persistent gap between how economists and the general public evaluate policy trade-offs, often producing outcomes economists view as welfare-reducing. This book explores how mental models, particularly the Economist Mental Model (EMM), shape individual political decisions and explains why populist solutions gain traction despite longer-term harms. Through diverse cases – from Brexit and US protectionism to price controls – it argues that wider adoption of the EMM could enhance support for welfare-enhancing policies, a crucial insight in an era of heightened populist sentiment.