Tuesday, November 22, 2011

How Should Economic Instruction Be Adapted To Deal With Current Economic Issues?

The walkout by 10% if the students in Greg Mankiw's introductory course at Harvard has received much publicity and it raises many questions about the teaching of economics. This article by Robin Wells who has written a textbook, and who teaches introductory economics at Princeton, suggests that it provides a teachable moment. Students are more aware of economic issues as a result of the financial crisis and high levels of unemployment. The profession has also come under attack for its failure to foresee the problems that we face, and also for its complicity in what has happened by extolling the virtues of free markets as the answer to every economic question. She does not recommend a radical overhaul of introductory courses but she argues that economists must show more humility, and admit ignorance on some issues, and seek to engage students by showing the relevance of many economic concepts to current issues such as growing income inequality. This cannot be explained by falling back on market forces and marginal productivity ideas.

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