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
Summary
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
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