 While "The Economic Journal" provided an outlet for the scholarly assessment of economic theory and policy, and helped to establish economics as a distinct and significant area of research, the BEA was slow to make an impact on the development of economics in other areas.As president, Goschen demonstrated a vehement desire to improve the status of economics in public opinion.At the inaugural council meeting, he warned of a "general idea that economists had finished their proper work in the education of the nation."