Teaching the polycrisis: Assessing the effect of pluralist education in Italian economics programs

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey of economics students in Italy. The survey was motivated by a review of the curriculum of Italian economics programs and was designed to assess the links between how pluralist students claimed their economics education was, and their assessment of how adequately various topics were taught, how well they thought their education contributed to the development of a number of skills, and their overall satisfaction with their degree program. The results of our survey were then analyzed using an ordered logit model which found large and significant links between pluralism and student satisfaction, reported topical coverage and the formation of some skills. No statistically negative correlations between pluralism and any skill or topics were found. A categorization of the results of an open-ended question from the survey asking students what they would change about their education “if they had a magic wand” is also presented. The results of the study point to increasing pluralism as an intriguing option for departments looking to attract and retain students and as a useful tool for training economists who are prepared to face current and future global economic challenges as represented in the concept of the polycrisis.