The COherence and RElevance of CORE Econ’s new benchmark model

Abstract

We review the economics and pedagogy of the CORE Econ open-access introductory course, of which we are co-authors, a decade after its launch. We make the case that the coherence and relevance of undergraduate economics instruction requires a new benchmark model – not the ad hoc addition of even more ‘frictions’, ‘imperfections’ and extensions to the conventional model. The new CORE benchmark will not strike anyone with recent graduate training in the field as particularly novel: it conveys to recent undergraduates the foundations of the economics that research economists today routinely use and that graduate students are taught. We also explain the major innovations in both content and pedagogy motivated by what we have learned from The Economy 1.0 having been taught to around a million students globally over the past six years.