<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">he Economist September 22 2017<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 class="flytitle-and-title__body" style="margin: 0px; font-family: EconSans, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="flytitle-and-title__title" style="display: block; margin: 0px 0px 0.714em; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-family: MiloSerifPro, Palatino, serif; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: -0.02em; line-height: 1.25; transition: color 0.2s;"><span class="" style="font-size: 20px;">The teaching of economics gets an overdue overhaul</span></span></h1><p class="blog-post__rubric" itemprop="description" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-family: MiloSerifPro, Palatino, serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.4; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" class="">Students are forced to grapple with the real world from the very beginning of their courses</font></p><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><span class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This article appeared in the</span><span class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span itemprop="articleSection" class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Finance and economics</span><span class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">section of the print edition under the headline</span><span class="" style="font-family: MiloSerifPro; font-style: italic; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> "Think again</span><font face="MiloSerifPro" class=""><span class=""><i class="">”</i></span></font></font></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21729443-students-are-forced-grapple-real-world-very-beginning-their" class="">https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21729443-students-are-forced-grapple-real-world-very-beginning-their</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b class="">Excerpts</b></p><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ECONOMISTS can be a haughty bunch. But a decade of trauma has had a chastening effect. </p><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They are rethinking old ideas, asking new questions and occasionally welcoming heretics back into the fold. Change, however, has been slow to reach the university economics curriculum. Many institutions still pump students through introductory courses untainted by recent economic history or the market shortcomings it illuminates. </p><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A few plucky reformers are working to correct that: a grand and overdue idea. <span class="">Overhauling the way economics is taught ought to produce students more able to understand the modern world.</span> Even better, it should improve economics itself.</p></div></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Introductory economics, at its best, enables people to see the unstated assumptions and hidden costs behind the rosy promises of politicians and businessmen.</span></div><div class=""><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Yet the standard curriculum is hardly calibrated to impart these lessons."</p><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">"</span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The CORE project (for Curriculum Open-access Resources in Economics) seeks to change all this. It sprang from student protests in Chile in 2011 over the perceived shortcomings of their lessons. </span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">A Chilean professor, Oscar Landerretche, worked with other economists to design</span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a new curriculum</span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">...</span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a text that is free<b class="">,</b></span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span><span style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">online and offers interactive charts and videos of star economists."</span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“ 'The Economy', as the book is economically titled, covers the usual subjects, but in a very different way.” </span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21729443-students-are-forced-grapple-real-world-very-beginning-their" class="">https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21729443-students-are-forced-grapple-real-world-very-beginning-their</a></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div><div class=""><p class="" style="color: rgb(18, 18, 18); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b class="">—————————————————————————----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</b></p></div></div><div class=""><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div class=""><b class="">“It is no coincidence that the deepest and most protracted recessions in recent decades have taken hold in countries that experienced booms …” </b></div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div><div class=""><span class="">The Economist, July, 2001</span><b class=""> </b></div><div class=""><b class=""><br class=""></b></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>