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THE SUMMER OF THEIR DISCONTENT By Louis K.C. YEUNG LAM KO

THE SUMMER OF THEIR DISCONTENT By Louis K.C. YEUNG LAM KO. “Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York;” Shakespeare, W. : Richard the Third, Act 1, Scene 1, 1-2. 1. Introduction.

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THE SUMMER OF THEIR DISCONTENT By Louis K.C. YEUNG LAM KO

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  1. THE SUMMER OF THEIR DISCONTENTByLouis K.C. YEUNG LAM KO • “Now is the winter of our discontent • Made glorious summer by this son of York;” • Shakespeare, W. : Richard the Third, Act 1, Scene 1, 1-2

  2. 1. Introduction • June 2000: Publication of the French students’ open letter in “Le Monde” newspaper and launching of the “autisme-economie” (autistic economics) website and subsequent public and very lively debates on economics teaching in France in the mass media

  3. 2. The Summer of Their Discontent • 2.1 Events Leading to the Summer of Their Discontent • January 2000: Conferences in Paris on the teaching of economics at the university level and formation of the “student movement for the reform of university economics teaching in France” • June 2000: Publication of the open letter

  4. OPEN LETTER GRIEVANCES • 1. Against the unreal and imaginary worlds of economics being taught • 2. Opposition to the uncontrolled use (abuse?) of mathematics as an end in itself • 3. Lack of pluralism of approaches to the study of economics

  5. French University Professors’ Petition • In addition to the students’ grievances, it mentioned • 1. The dominant place of neoclassical theory in the curriculum and the “discrepancy of such teaching with respect to the concrete realities” • 2. A teaching method leaving no “place for reflection and thinking”

  6. OPPOSITE AND COUNTER-BALANCING VIEWS • Famous economists like Amartya Sen, Robert Solow and Olivier Blanchard provided opposite and counter-balancing views to the students’ views in the newspapers, thus getting the big controversy really on its way

  7. OTHER PROFESSORS’ COUNTER APPEAL • On 31 October 2000, other university professors in favour of the “status quo” launched a “counter-appeal to preserve the scientificity of economics” which was published in the “Le monde de l’economie” newspaper.

  8. THE FITOUSSI COMMISSION • The incumbent French minister of education of that time, Jack Lang, set up a commission to investigate into the issues associated with the teaching of economics in French universities. • He appointed Jean-Paul Fitoussi, then President of the “Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques” (OFCE) to be in charge of the Commission and to report within twelve months by September 2001.

  9. 3. The Aftermath : Post-Autistic Economics and Other Developments • 3.1 September 2000: Edward Fullbrook’s Post-Autistic Economics Newsletter • September 2000 to December 2001: Post-Autistic Economics Newsletter • December 2001 to March 2008: Post-Autistic Economics Review • March 2008 to Present: Real World Economics Review

  10. 3.2 June 2001: Cambridge University 27, (England) Opening up Economics • The 27 Ph.D. students argue that the status quo of current mainstream economics is harmful to the students (who know no better), to society at large (as policy options are limited), to a deeper understanding of the economy and to “unmainstream” economic research (as it is looked down upon, not considered valid and not professionally recognised).

  11. MAIN PROPOSAL • Main proposal: that the foundations of the mainstream approach as well as competing approaches to be openly debated with the hopeful result that a pluralism of methods and approaches in studying economic phenomena will be tolerated, contrary to the current situation whereby the mainstream approach is overly dominant and preponderant.

  12. 3.3 August 2001 Kansas City University 75 • They criticised “the narrow, methodological approach of economics which hinders its ability to generate truly pragmatic and realistic policy prescriptions or to engage in productive dialogue with other social sciences”.

  13. Economics must therefore be expanded to encompass the following: • A broader conception of human behaviour, not only rational economic man. • Recognition of culture, which influences human behaviour. • Consideration of history as economic reality is dynamic, not static. • A new theory of knowledge to incorporate the investigator’s values. • Empirical grounding of the theoretical claims • Expanded methods of research • Inter-disciplinary approach to include various approaches to economics and to take account of other fields of social enquiry

  14. 3.4. March 2003 Harvard Students Manifesto Harvard University Students for a Human and Responsible Economics (SHARE) • SHARE has three goals: •  1. Diversify the economics curriculum at Harvard • 2. Diversify the economics faculty at Harvard • 3. Educate students about economics and alternatives to the dominant model as well as raising awareness of the social and political implications of economics

  15. 3.5. April 2008 University of Notre Dame: An Open letter • Apart from other fears expressed, their main grievances can be summarised as: • The teaching of neo-classical economic theory and models to the exclusion of plausible alternatives to neoclassical economics • The fostering of a narrow and incomplete view of economics due to an ahistorical approach • The presenting of mainstream economics as analogous to a natural science, so that economic laws are as universal as the laws of physics • The presenting of economics as value free and devoid of ethical implications whereas the ethics is already embedded in the neoclassical theory • It is the students’ contention that the current situation of economics stifles debate and impedes student learning. The university should therefore reconsider its current teaching of economics.

  16. 4. The Economics Teaching Issues Involved • The excessive use of mathematics and its implications • Is economics a science? • Economics and reality • Economics and students’ expectations • A pluralism of approaches in economics

  17. 5. Whither the Teaching of Economics? • 5.1. Two Broad Groups of Students • One can perhaps distinguish between the following two broad groups: those students who are studying economics for only one year and then who will be going on to other intellectual pursuits and those students who are to be trained as professional economists with at least 3 years of undergraduate study and therefore a substantial exposure to economics.

  18. 5.2. Possible Objectives of Students Studying Economics • For the first group of students, they may need to study some minimum amount of economics because of the nature of their future career. • Other non-specialist students may want to study some economics because they are of the view that this is important knowledge to help them understand what is going on in the society and to be better participating members of the society or better citizens. • Such non-specialist students would also want to be able to understand the basic economic language and terminology as used by the professional economists either in private and social conversations, in the mass media or in public debates.

  19. THE SPECIALISTS • As for the second group of university students, which I will call the “specialists”, those who will go on to become professional economists, their objectives will be very different from those of the first group, the “non-specialists”.

  20. STUDY OBJECTIVES OF THE SPECIALISTS • To summarise, these objectives are to acquire a deep understanding of economic phenomena, to become useful economic and social actors, to be aware of the social and political implications of economics, to be able to impact on policy debates and last but not least, to be reflective and critical of their discipline through a pluralist approach to economics.

  21. 5.3. Suggestions for a Common Core of First Year Economics Teaching • 1. Pluralist Economics • 2. Macroeconomics 1 • 3. Microeconomics 1

  22. OTHER CORE COURSES • However, for those who intend to specialise in economics, I think there must be other core, compulsory courses. I suggest that there should be four of them: Mathematics, Statistics, Political Science and Sociology.

  23. 5.4. Suggestions for Economics Teaching for Students Wishing to Become Full-fledged Professional Economists • 5.4.1. French post-autistic economics (pae) students’ proposed core curriculum as translated by Joseph Halevi • Three groupings without a pre-determined hierarchy • FIRST GROUP: Descriptive economics: history of economic and social phenomena, actors and institutions • SECOND GROUP: Theories and issues • THIRD GROUP: Applied economics and quantitative methods

  24. 5.4.2. University of Chicago economics degree program/core curriculum • The B.A. degree program in economics requires in all 13 courses, of which 9 courses constitute the core curriculum. These nine core courses are 3 mathematics courses, 2 courses in price theory (microeconomics), 2 courses in macroeconomics and 2 courses in statistics and econometrics. Students then choose a minimum of a further 4 economics courses “to broaden their exposure to areas of applied economics or economic theory”.

  25. 5.4.3. Proposed core curriculum • On top of the six or seven compulsory courses already mentioned above, the core curriculum in the proposed new degree program must also have the following compulsory courses for the future economist. The core, compulsory courses in the last two years of the economics degree program should be :

  26. COMPULSORY COURSES • 1. Political Economy/History of Economic Thought •  2. Economic History •  3. Microeconomic Theory and Policy •  4. Macroeconomic Theory and Policy •  5. Introductory Econometrics •  6. Econometric Methods •  7. Research Methods in the Social Sciences

  27. OTHER OPTIONAL COURSES • A minimum of three additional economics courses could then be chosen by students in accordance with their interests for further deepening of their economics knowledge. •  If students carry their studies on into a fourth, year, usually a Honours year in Australian universities, the priority will be their research honours degree thesis and any necessary courses helping students in the development, understanding and writing of their honours thesis.

  28. 6. Conclusion • The Global Financial Crisis and Economics Teaching • Bouchaud’s comments and views • Economics in a permanent state of crisis??

  29. The inspiration of this paper owes much to the following quote, with one important modification: instead of social science and social, read “economics” and “economic” instead! • “Of late, the conception of social science (economics) I hold has not been ascendant. My conception stands opposed to social science (economics)as a set of bureaucratic techniques which inhibit social (economic) inquiry by “methodological” pretensions, which congest such work by obscurantist conceptions, or which trivialise it by concern with minor problems unconnected with publicly relevant issues. These inhibitions, obscurities, and trivialities have created a crisis in the social (economic) studies to-day without suggesting, in the least, a way out of that crisis.” (Mills, C.Wright, 1959)

  30. I will also quote unashamedly from a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald dated 25-26 April, 2009 by William McInnes. • “Life is full of cycles, just like the economy. We are young, we are old and we die. It is elemental; it is the order of things. Somewhere along the way economics seems to have conveniently become a hard science of statistics and systems instead of a social system of human society. It is distant from the human beings it represents.” • This paper is a small contribution to try and make economics go back to its original roots as a “social system of human society” and I can only hope that this will happen sooner rather than later.

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