the post-crash economics society, manchester. plan for this presentation 1)why economics is...
TRANSCRIPT
Plan for this presentation
1) Why economics is important?
2) Where do students come in?
3) Tools we have used
4) The Possible Limits of Student Actions – are there institutions that are too big to fail?
Why is economics important?
“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist”John Maynard Keynes
Ideas that have changed the world
• Foundations of the discipline – Adam Smith – 1776
- Ricardo – comparative advantage (abstract/simple model)
• Ricardo inadvertently inspired Marx – Labour theory of value
• Keynes – post WW2 Consensus
• The creation of Derivative Markets – model that then created the market (Mackenzie, 2007)
Why is economics education important now?
• “it’s the economy stupid” • Graduates fill top positions – Cambridge • A subject that dominates our thinking – “good
politics, and bad economics”• Crowding out of other disciplines – Economics
Imperialism (Ben Fine, 2009)
Different visions of economists• “The master-economist must possess a rare
combination of gifts .... He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher”
• John Maynard Keynes, 1936
• "The combined assumptions of maximizing behaviour, stable preferences, and market equilibrium, used relentlessly and unflinchingly, form the heart of the economic approach as I see it.
Gary Becker, 1976
What does undergraduate degree in economics consist of?
• Dominated by Neoclassical Economics – not an official term – see Becker’s definition
• Models and mathematics – rational agents• Little to no place for real-world application,
ethics, history, philosophy of social science or, crucially, other forms of economics
Real start to a question from Final Exam, of 3rd Module at top 3 University
• “Macroeconomics…..has succeeded: its central problem of depression prevention has been solved for all practical purposes and has in fact been solved for many decades”
Robert Lucas, 2003 (Nobel Prize Winner)
• “The state of macro is good” Olivier Blanchard, 2008 (Chief Economist IMF)
• Bernanke’s Great Moderation
“the economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics for truth”Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winner, 2009
What do we need in economics
• Real World Application• Ethics• History• History of Economics• Philosophy of Social Science• Crucially, other forms of economics –
importance of framework and methodology
Why do we need pluralism in economics?
• Not denying that mainstream economics has important elements
• However, monopoly led to hubris• Failed to predict the financial crisis or warn
about debt - Minsky• Problems even if crisis didn’t occur –
Why student opposition is necessary
• Economics education should in some sense be seen as a public good
• Yet difficult for the public to engage with it – technical discipline• “I would devote time to discussing rational
expectations, monetary, overlapping generations models of fiat money, in which one can see that money acts like a ‘bubble’, and which serve to explain in the purest sense what a bubble can mean, of the kind recounted in the famous conference volume edited by Karaken and Wallace”
Former Bank of England Economist in response to our campaign
Students can engage
• Students are not yet fully indoctrinated
• Institutional factors stop the discipline from radically overhauling itself
• Kuhn’s idea of a paradigm shift
Pupil vs. Expert Dynamic
• Can’t definitively say that it’s wrong• Circumstance suggests that it is• Can definitively say that it doesn’t
help us to understand the real world at this level
The Actions of Student
Three options:1. Self education2. Curriculum reform campaigning
Both can happen on a local, national and a international scale
Self -Education
• National and International level – podcasts etc.,
• Local level – e.g. the case of Bubbles, Panics and Crashes
• Limitations to this model – risk for lecturers, students only have limited time for outside study
• Conclusion: doesn’t reach enough people
Curriculum Reform
• Local level – very difficult
• National/International – powerful curriculum reform movements from big institutions – CORE shows that movement can be hijacked
• Need new ideas
Tools we have used
1. Petitions• Can be useful in the short term – particular
reform/gain attention • Can unite students (ISIPE)• often flawed for long-term reform due to the
quick turnover of students
Tools we have used
2) The Media- Great for getting public attention- Departments scared about public image- The importance of a narrative – Post-Crash- Can be misrepresented/understandably
simplifies the debate- Alienates economists – us vs. them
Tools we have used
3) The National Student Survey (NSS)- Particularly controversial – ‘strategic’- Department allowed to tell students why to
give them a positive review but the opposite not allowed
- What do we want the NSS to be? A call for comfy sofas or a reflection on our education
Conclusion – Is economics too big to fail?
Reasons to be pessimistic for the future of the movement:1) The case of Bubbles, Panics and Crashes2) The adoption of CORE at several universities 3) Some institutional factors that are difficult for
us to affect – REA/REF4) As the financial crisis fades from memory, will
people stop challenging the orthodoxy?
Conclusion – Is economics too big to fail?
Reasons to be optimistic:1) A movement growing ever larger – new
groups/supporters2) Funding makes campaigning easier and
turnover less of an issue3) Alternative curriculums already exist4) The possibility for a new CORE- Skidelsky5) Post-Crash Generation – crisis will not be
forgotten