[lbo-talk] More ideological backlash

Marv Gandall marvgandall at videotron.ca
Thu Aug 6 07:12:42 PDT 2009


(Robert Skidelsky, "How to rebuild a shamed subject")

"Keynes opened the way to political economy; but economists opted for a regressive research programme, disguised by sophisticated mathematics, that set it apart. The present crisis gives us an opportunity to try again.

The reconstruction of economics needs to start with the universities. First, degrees in the subject should be broadly based. They should take as their motto Keynes’s dictum that 'economics is a moral and not a natural science'. They should contain not just the standard courses in elementary microeconomics and macroeconomics but economic and political history, the history of economic thought, moral and political philosophy, and sociology. Though some specialisation would be allowed in the final year, the mathematical component in the weighting of the degree should be sharply reduced. This is a return to the tradition of the Oxford Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) degree and Cambridge Moral Sciences."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dfc9294a-81ef-11de-9c5e-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss



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