Professional Developments and Opportunities

Surveys in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010 investigated teaching and assessment methods in different undergraduate courses. In this article, the authors offer basic results from the 2010 survey. “Chalk and talk” remains the dominant teaching style, but there were drops in mean (although not median) values for those pedagogies and some growth in the use of other methods, including class discussion and computer-generated displays. More instructors provided students with problem sets and class notes, and computer lab assignments were increasingly common in econometrics and statistics courses. Experiments are occasionally used in introductory courses but almost never used in other courses. Calculus is not viewed as important by a majority of instructors in any courses but is considered more important in intermediate theory and statistics and econometrics courses.     

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.     

Teaching the history of economic thought

The main purpose of this survey is to present the results of a questionnaire recently sent to historians of economic thought. This questionnaire — presented in the appendix - was devised so as to provide data on the approaches and experiences of teaching the history of economic thought in a wide range of universities throughout the world.

A summary of the most significant results is presented in section 2 of this survey. Section 1 provides a general introduction to the methodological context of the discussion of problems concerning the teaching of the discipline.     

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。     

Impostors in the Temple,by Martin Anderson

The Teaching Innovations Program (TIP) was a six-year project funded by the National Science Foundation that gave economics instructors the opportunity to learn interactive teaching strategies for use in undergraduate economics courses. TIP participants first attended a teaching workshop that presented various teaching strategies. They then could enroll in a follow-up program of online instruction and mentoring to learn more about one or two teaching strategies. TIP participants also had the opportunity to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning economics to share their work. A retrospective survey was administered to the participants after attending the program to obtain a longitudinal assessment of TIP. This article presents the overall survey findings and discusses the results from each TIP phase (workshop, online instruction, and scholarship).     

Two Decades of Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2011

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2010 to 2011, growing by an average of 4 percent.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2009

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2008–9.     

A Microcomputer Program That Simulates the Baumol-Tobin Transactions Demand for Money

The Baumol-Tobin approach for explaining the transactions demand for money has become standard in upper-division macroeconomic courses and is even used in many principles courses. This article describes a microcomputer program that permits students to learn the theory by experimenting with cash-management techniques. Suggestions are given for incorporating the technique into a course.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991 to 2001

The author reviews and recommends Alan S. Blinder's Hard Heads, Soft Hearts: Tough-Minded Economics for a Just Society.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2012

The 2007–10 growth spurt (18 percent over three years) in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees came to an abrupt end in 2011 and 2012. Degrees awarded grew less than one percent over the past two years.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2010

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2009–10.     

International Trends in Economics Degrees During the 1990s

Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States experienced a substantial decline in undergraduate degrees in economics from 1992 through 1996, followed immediately by a modest recovery. This cycle does not conform to overall degree trends, shifts in the gender composition of undergraduate populations, or changing interests of female students in any of the four countries. There is no evidence that changes in the “price” of a degree to students, tightened marking standards or degree requirements, or changes in pedagogical methods caused the cycle.

Jobs for economics graduates declined in the United States between 1988 and 1990 and thereafter recovered. With a two-year recognition lag, the pattern of employment prospects fits the U.S. slump in economics degrees perfectly. Unfortunately, employment patterns in the other three countries are inconsistent with the degree cycle. The explanation that fits the economic degree pattern best is interest in business education.