Discussing "Teaching Economics After the Crash" and a great blog post!

Few economics educators will have missed the December 2014 documentary by Aditya Chakrabortty on Radio 4 titled Teaching Economics after the Crash. It has likely been discussed in many an A level economics classroom, particularly with students eager to know more about their potential economics degrees...I know a couple of my classes watched it with interest and had many questions about their future economics degrees afterwards... Unfortunately, few asked "Is what the documentary said actually true?"

The documentary did lead to some fascinating discussions with both students and colleagues and whilst all found it enjoyable viewing, it was not particularly clear to enough students that it was a rather unfair and one-sided representation, and a portrayal that most economics degree courses do not typically deserve.

I felt that its unbalanced nature could not only have negative consequences in terms of the selections some students made in terms of their future study of economics, but it was also rather unfair in the way it misrepresented the truth about the nature of economics undergraduate degrees in general. It's general message was essentially that economics degrees aren't good enough at helping students understand the economies of the world (and typically the financial crisis) as they aren't well applied and they (the economics degrees) are delivering more of a right-wing, neo-classical doctrine as opposed to a balanced, applied and useful skill-set.

Now, rather than producing my own rebuttal, this article: Thoughts on “Teaching Economics After the Crash” by Karl Whelan does a wonderful and a far better job than I ever could. It provides an insight into the mind of a well-balanced economist and educator who can see the validity in some of the points raised and recognises that improvements can (and should) be made, and also tackles the unsupported, anecdotal critiques head on.

Not only does Karl Whelan carefully address the misconceptions but he also gives a window in to what students are likely to experience during their undergraduate economics degree, which is why we were discussing the documentary in the first place!

Comments

5 Steps to an Excellent Economics Essay

We all know that essay structure is important. It's been said that a good essay is like a sandwich... you need an introduction, main body and a conclusion. This is rather vague advice, and so here are some pointers that should help you to construct an excellent economics essay. This post is designed to support questions that require all the assessment objectives tested. These types of questions tend to feature command terms like 'discuss', 'to what extent' or 'evaluate'... Image source The 5 step process This process is not perfect but does provide a framework to help you construct your essay. Feel free to use whatever elements you believe will add to your performance... 1 - Annotate the question Simply underline the command terms, highlight the parts which you need to respond to and the key terms etc. This will ensure you understand the question, helps you to focus and reduces the likelihood that you'll go off topic. 2 - Plan I would...

Contestable Markets: A Classroom Analogy

In our recent mock exams, some Year 13 students were confused about the concept of contestable markets. Many defined them as simply being a market with high levels of competition. They often went on to correctly explain the benefits to consumers, as a contestable market does have a similar impact on the behaviour of incumbents (firms already in the market). Contestable markets, in contrast to 'competitive' markets, are where the presence of potential entrants acts as a competitive constraint on the incumbent firms, even if these potential entrants do not actually enter the market. In this context, the concept of contestability is used to capture the degree of competition in a market, with fully contestable markets having zero barriers to entry and exit and the ability of firms to enter and exit the market quickly and easily. I mentioned this common error to my fellow economist, Mr O'Hagan and he shared with me a brilliant analogy he uses to explain contestable markets: Th...

Get ahead this summer - Read

The summer provides AS students the perfect opportunity to set themselves apart from other students and to get ahead, making their life that little bit easier for the A2 year. This might be in terms of being prepared for the A2 course but also for the all important university applications process, and the subsequent interviews... One excellent way students will set themselves apart is through reading. Universities say they want to see applicants reading relevant books that show they have an interest in the subject they wish to study. Imagine applying to do an economics degree having not read any books! It is not just about reading anything, it is about what you have read. So, to help you we have tried to provide you with some reading at various levels that should enable you to choose the appropriate books for you this summer. Don't forget, being up to date in terms of news and opinion is also critical so make sure you check out the further reading recommended in...

EconomicsToo

Search This Blog