Against the current: Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts and the history of economic thought *

The paper throws some new light on Sraffa's contribution, using material from his yet unpublished papers. Attention focuses on Sraffa's rediscovery of the distinct character of the classical theory of value and distribution and his refutation of the Marshallian interpretation that it is only a special case of demand and supply theory, his reformulation of the classical theory, and his criticism of the alternative neoclassical theory.     

An Economic Model of Faculty Grading Practices

The statistical evidence examined by the author indicates that faculty members with relatively few students tend to assign higher grades than would be expected otherwise. In evaluating student achievement and faculty performance, therefore, one must not only be aware of this association, but also be able to assess its significance.     

Anticipating Nelson and Winter: Jack Downie's theory of evolutionary economic change

An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change , by Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter continues to have great influence on evolutionary economic thought. While their modeling techniques and the breadth of their vision for evolutionary theorising must be seen as seminal and effective innovation in economic theory, they were not the first inventors of such a theory. Close examination reveals that much of the economic theory was anticipated by Jack Downie whose book, The Competitive Process, was published in 1958. The extent of anticipation is remarkable, with not merely the two elements of population ecology, selection and mutation, but the way in which they are theorised to work being replicated by Nelson and Winter.     

The Scholarship of Teaching Economics

The authors report on the results of a telephone survey of 1,001 employees of seven large corporations conducted for the Business Roundtable as part of its public policy program. A set of 20 questions keyed to the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics was embedded in the survey. A measure of economic literacy was constructed from the survey results. Greater economic literacy was associated with more overall education, more college economics coursework, high incomes, and being male. An examination of individual test questions revealed that previous college economics had substantial effects on employees' current economic literacy.     

The participant observer in the formation of economic thoughtSumma Oeconomiae Perlmanensis

This essay addresses issues related to the History of Economic Thought, Comparative Economic Analysis, and Institutional Economics alluded to in Mark Perlman's “The Character of Economic Thought, Economic Characters, and Economic Institutions”. Specifically, some differences between the strands of American Institutionalism and Schumpeterian economics are brought into focus. Against the background of a review, the ideas of a major participant in the historical analysis of economic thought are discussed. The conclusion is that an evolutionary approach to economics would benefit from any attempt to substitute systematic-discursive theorizing for the received genre of an abstract-deductive approach.     

讨论式教学和填鸭式教学的经济学分析

对于填鸭式教学和讨论式教学两种教学模式的效果,目前的研究大多是从教学经验出发进行总结。或者从心理学或哲学的角度进行分析。运用新古典经济学、制度经济学的理论对填鸭式教学和讨论式教学的绩效进行分析,通过比较可以发现：讨论式教学无论在教学绩效还是在教育绩效方面都要远远优于填鸭式教学,从而为讨论式教学提供了经济学的理论支撑。     

Students' persistent preconceptions and learning economic principles

Economic views held by the general public tend to differ significantly from those of economic experts. Would these differences fade away if people were exposed to some economic instruction? In this article, the authors identify college students' preconceptions about economic issues at the beginning of the semester, verify their persistence throughout the semester, and test whether their beliefs are correlated to course performance. The authors conduct a survey at the beginning and end of the semester on a sample of first-year students taking an economic principles course. They find evidence of preconception persistence and reasoning inconsistencies, pointing to some cognitive biases as a plausible cause. Most students do not integrate the newly learned tools into their thinking process, even if they perform well in tests.     

《产业经济学》教学内容改革探索

针对学生经常反映《产业经济学》理论性太强、比较难理解的现状,在重新修订课程教学大纲、培养目标的基础上,我们选定了合适的教材,重点对课程内容进行了甄选。同时,在教学过程中突出重点、讲透难点,以案例讲解、产经新闻解读方式,使课程主要理论内容与现实产业发展紧密结合,有效地提高了学生学习兴趣,改善了教学效果。     

提升微观经济学教学有效性的探讨

微观经济学是经管类专业的专业基础课,在实际的教学中,教学效果并不理想。究其原因,主要是由于授课方式、授课主体和授课对象等多方面的配合不当。因此,增加案例式教学、提倡教师参加社会生产实践锻炼、调动学生学习的主动性、引入先进的教学方式的教学手段是提升微观经济学教学有效性的重要途径。     

Schumpeter and the `Schmollerprogramm': integrating theory and history in the analysis of economic development

This essay addresses the historical and institutional aspects of Schumpeter's thought. It suggests that Schumpeter prepared a pluralist research agenda, formulated in accordance with the conceptual perspective of the German Historical School, as presented by major scholars such as Schmoller, Sombart, Spiethoff and Max Weber. Schumpeter's notion of development, with its emphasis on the correspondence of economic and socio-cultural evolution, is therefore to be viewed in the context of the comprehensive Schmollerian approach. Moreover the ethical-evolutionary components of Schmoller's ideas point at the vital role of the German Historical School in the elaboration of a modern evolutionary economics in Schumpeterian terms. The essay concludes that the Schmollerprogramm is going to inspire further developments in Schumpeterian economics, as the integration of theory and history continuously marks the research agenda of evolutionary approaches to economic development.     

Tyranny of kindness: Dismantling the welfare system to end poverty in America Theresa Funiciello

The Comment on Wrenn’s article “What is Heterodox Economics?” suggests that the inability of heterodox economists to define their field arises from an as yet unrecognized and different metaphysical foundation than that of orthodox economics.     

西方经济学本科教学改革探讨

西方经济学是经济管理类本科专业的基础性必修课程,其教学效果的好坏直接影响学生对其他相关课程的掌握程度。然而当前一些本科院校西方经济学课程的教学效果并不理想。如何对该课程进行科学革新,更好地发挥其基础性地位,进而帮助学生更好地掌握专业知识,是本课程教学改革的主要目标。     

论思维范式在高校《西方经济学》之素质教学中的应用

当前,传统的《西方经济学》教学已经日益显现出其局限性,因此,探讨既符合课程本身的内在要求又有助于提高学生专业素质的新教学方法就显得意义非常。以思维范式的概念界定为分析起点,提出了与传统《西方经济学》教学不同的、更具实际价值的相关的思维范式教学。并进一步详细分析了思维范式在教学内容、教学方法、学生学习等方面的应用,为提高高校《西方经济学》的素质教学质量提供了具有可操作性的理论与实践参考。     

The economic analysis of offender’s choice: Old and new insights

The economics of crime has followed the basic Becker model (1968), according to which a criminal act results from a rational decision based on cost-benefit analysis. This paper surveys some extensions to Becker’s model, by giving some emphasis to earlier work that tries to explain differences in offender’s choice across places. At the end, the paper analyses the contribution of Steven Levitt (the new Gary Becker), which has stimulated an empirical renaissance in the economic analysis of crime. His new book (co-author Dubner) Freakonomics (2005) offers a new argument in understanding why crime fell in the 1990s in the USA. I am very grateful to an anonymous referee for his valuable comments, which improved the final version of this paper. I would also like to thank Steven Levitt for sending me his unpublished work. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Teaching Chain-Weight Real GDP Measures

In 1996, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) changed the method used to calculate measures of real GDP from a Laspeyres or Paasche index to a Fisher ideal index, also called a chain-weight index. Even though this is a significant change in approach and has resulted in extensive revisions of reported statistics, many authors of intermediate-level textbooks treat this topic casually, if at all. In this article, the author presents two applications in which this topic can be explored more thoroughly, with the help of spreadsheet software. One exercise introduces the concept of the chain-weight index by comparing it to Laspeyres, Paasche, and ideal indexes with the use of utility analysis. The second exercise is a step-by-step process to calculate chain-weight index statistics.     

Contemporary Economic thought. The Contribution of Neo-Institutional Economics

This article examines the historical developments of the institutionalist theory of the business enterprise since the early 1900s in order to demonstrate its distinctive characteristics that are often overlooked or belittled by some institutional-evolutionary economists and most mainstream economists. I argue that the institutionalist theory is an evolving and emergent theory, which bears a reciprocal, evolutionary, and cumulative relationship between the business enterprise and society. The institutionalist theory is, therefore, suitable for the understanding of the real-world business enterprise as it can be modified and refined along with the evolution of capitalism. The article begins with a discussion of the present state of the institutionalist theory. The following section is devoted to the major contributions to the institutionalist theory situated in the evolution of U.S. capitalism. The penultimate section provides a critical discussion of new institutional and evolutionary approaches to the firm. The article concludes with a brief discussion as to what should be done for the further development of the institutionalist theory of the business enterprise.