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Imagining a New Intro Economics


Yesterday, Harvard students of Ec 10 staged a walkout to draw attention to the bias they detect in the course.

Here is their open letter to the professor, Greg Mankiw.

Curriculum reform has been central to INET’s own project from the beginning. Here is the work of the Economics Curriculum Committee to date.

The problem of the typical economics class lies in an excessively narrow conception of the scope of economics, and of the research methods appropriate to the subject. This narrowness is pervasive but, as the reaction of the students demonstrates, especially jarring at the introductory level.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Perry Mehrling, for example, has experimented with the intro course, and so have many others. As a constructive response, today INET launches its syllabus project 30 Ways to Teach Economics. Professors, send us the syllabi of your experiments, and let us know how it worked. Students, send us syllabi that you found particularly inspiring and provoking, and tell us why.

Syllabi submissions are no longer being accepted. Thank you to those who participated!

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