Abstract

The Economy Studies project emerged from the worldwide movement to modernise economics education, spurred on by the global financial crisis of 2008, the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. It envisions a wide variety of economics graduates and specialists, equipped with a broad toolkit, enabling them to collectively understand and help tackle the issues the world faces today. This is a practical guide for (re-)designing economics courses and programs. Based on a clear conceptual framework and ten flexible building blocks, this handbook offers refreshing ideas and practical suggestions to stimulate student engagement and critical thinking across a wide range of courses. Key features are: - Adapting Existing Courses: Plug-and-play suggestions to improve existing economics courses with attention to institutions, history, values and practical skills. - Teaching materials: A guide through the rapidly growing range of innovative textbooks and other teaching materials. - Example Courses and Curricula: How to design pluralist, real-world economics education within the practical limits of time and resources. The companion website, www.economystudies.com, contains a wealth of additional resources, such as tailor-made booklets for more specific audiences, additional teaching materials and links to plug-and-play syllabi and courses, and opportunities for workshops and exchange with other economics educators.

Highlights

  • For instance, are we striving for economic growth? Does this goal still make sense and how does it relate to other goals, such as ecological sustainability and social equity? What is a ‘well-functioning market’, and when and why do we want one? Nor did we learn much about the economy as it exists in the real world: few of us could have listed the main sectors in our home countries, explained how the bargaining processes between workers and employers works in practice, or set out the connection between capitalism and global warming in any more detail than an informed newspaper reader

  • We attempt to answer a fundamental question on economics education: should it be taught as a specific method of thought, which can be applied to any subject matter? Or, should it be taught as a study of a concrete subject matter: the economy, as lawyers study the legal system? We argue the latter, based on the idea that the study of the economy is a vital social function and the primary reason for most students to study economics

  • We discuss the question of how the economy is related to other systems: When do we still call something a part of the economy and at what point have we crossed over into other territories? Here we discuss the economy’s relation to the natural world, to the social world and its geographical scope, and discuss how to work with these boundaries

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Summary

Part IV: Background Materials

Introduction to the Background Materials Background Material 1: Economic Approaches Background Material 2: Interdisciplinary Economics Background Material 3: Rethinking the History of Economic Thought & Methods Background Material 4: Coordination & Allocation Mechanisms Background Material 5: Research Methods & Philosophy of Science Background Material 6: Teaching Materials. Economy Studies for Students Economy Studies for Program Directors and Deans Economy Studies for Secondary Education Economy Studies for Business Schools Economy Studies for Public Administration & Law Programs Economy Studies for Economics 101 Economy Studies for Microeconomics Economy Studies for Macroeconomics Economy Studies for Econometrics Economy Studies for Labour Economics Economy Studies for Public Economics Economy Studies for Environmental Economics Economy Studies for Development Economics Economy Studies for Industrial Organisation Economy Studies for Finance Economy Studies for Monetary Economics Economy Studies for International Economics Economy Studies for Game Theory Economy Studies for Behavioural Economics

Rethinking Economics Education
This Book
10 Summar y
The Philosophy 5 of Economy 1 3 4 6 Studies
Research Methods & Philosophy
Using the Economy Studies Toolkit
Building on a Wider Movement
A Process of Crowdsourcing
Constructing the Toolkit
Introduction
Why Redesign Economics Programmes?
Giants on Whose Shoulders We Stand
Introduction to the Foundations
42 Foundations Introduction
Conclusion
What Should Economics
Practical Suggestions for Pluralist Teaching
60 Foundation 2 Pluralism
Why Pluralism Is Important
Practical Suggestions for Teaching Real-World Knowledge
What We Mean By Real-World Knowledge
Practical Suggestions for Teaching to Understand Values
94 Foundation 4 Values
Where in Economics Do Values Play a Role?
Practical Suggestions for Tackling the Issue
Lively and Relevant
Open and Critical Discussions
Lively and Relevant Education
Introduction to the Building Blocks
Part II
Reasons to
Reasons to Study the Economy
Sectors
Social Aspects of History
Methods
Forms of Economic Organisation
Political-Economic Systems as Concepts
Qualitative Data
Qualitative Data Analysis
Qualitative Data Collection
Introducing Economic Perspectives
Sector or Topic Scan
Normative Principles for Decision
Normative Principles for Decisions
Introduction to Tools
Part III
13 Nature
Public Economics
Do It Yourself
Major Economics in a Liberal Arts and Sciences Programme
A Look Into the Future
A High School Economics Course
Example Learning Objectives Based on the Building Blocks
Traditional Learning Objectives
Displaying command of existing knowledge
Interpreting existing knowledge
Interpreting and manipulating economic data
Example Learning Objectives
A New Vision for Economics Education
Change Is Necessary and Possible
Findings
Calls to Action
Discussion
Full Text
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