This question totally retarded and I'm incredulous that the economist entertained it. Would the economy be better without MBAs? Really? There are people out there who are trying to tell other people that the entire economy would be much better without a small group of people spending another couple of years at university learning more about business? A better question might be 'Would a startup be better off with out MBAs?' or something more specific. But to try and claim that the entire economy would be better off because a tiny proportion of young people decided to do a masters is incomprehensible. Disclaimer: I have an MBA.