Teaching Economics to Undergraduates in Europe: Volume,Structure, and Contents

The structure and contents of undergraduate programs in economics and management sciences differ among the major European universities. Based on analyses of curriculums, course syllabuses, and adopted textbooks, the author looks at how much time is spent in pertinent programs, how time is allocated among different courses within programs, what common thematic denominators exist, and finally and most importantly, whether and in what way content taught in micro and macro courses differs. Based on examinations of how the coverage in major textbooks has evolved through successive editions, he also looks for trends and cycles in what is taught in undergraduate micro and macroeconomics.     

Socio-economic Research in Personnel versus Personnel Economics

This paper argues that personnel economics is still dominated by the assumptions of orthodox microeconomics, and also that newer fields such as transaction cost theory are far removed from socio-economics. Personnel economics is characterised by assumptions of unbounded rationality, stable preferences and functioning markets; power differences are seen as unimportant for explanations. By contrast, a socio-economic perspective works with the assumption of bounded rationality; it takes preferences into account, assumes that markets are characterised by ‘non-equilibrium’ states and power differences. The paper outlines a socio-economic mode of explanation and suggests that any explanation should include assumptions about three theoretical mechanisms: pursuit of utility, power and sense-making.     

浅谈微观经济学课程改革

在分析微观经济学课程特点的基础上,结合教学实践,分析了教学过程中存在的问题,并探讨了教学内容、教学方法等方面的新尝试,为该课程的教学改革提出了新的思路。     

The Publication Profile of Economists

Publication rates are reported from a set of 126 economics and related journals for 1,600 economists who received their doctorates between 1969 and 1988. The data strongly support the contention that publication of one article per year in established journals is exceptional.     

浅谈微观经济学课程改革

微观经济学课程是一门理论性与实践性都较强的课程。微观经济学侧重于基本概念、基本图形、基本理论的教授,使学生对市场运行机制的一般原理和规范行为等方面的内容有比较全面的了解。通过本课程的学习,可以使学生掌握微观经济学的基本原理,并培养经济学直觉,培养运用基本的微观经济学方法分析现实经济问题的能力。在实际教学过程中,要精心设计教学内容,丰富教学手段,注重理论与实践相结合,从而提高微观经济学的教学质量。     

Teacher Training and Teacher Optimism about the American Economic System

The amount and type of economic-education training teachers receive have predictable effects on the teachers' optimism about the future of the American economic system.     

Simulating Price-Taking

In this article, the author presents a price-takers’ market simulation geared toward principles-level students. This simulation demonstrates that price-taking behavior is a natural result of the conditions that create perfect competition. In trials, there is a significant degree of price convergence in just three or four rounds. Students find this simulation to be a fun, educational experience that adds value to their understanding of competitive markets.     

Some microfoundations of Austrian economics: Böhm-Bawerk's version

This paper investigates Böohm-Bawerk's version of Austrian microeconomics. It draws some comparisons with Carl Menger's programmatic work on the principles of economic theory which originally established a distinctive Austrian tradition. Böhm-Bawerk's microeconomics is also considered against the background of contemporary Walrasian, Edgeworthian and Marshallian thought as well as twentieth-century work on the theory of games. Böhm-Bawerk offers a theory of micro-structural dynamics. His emphasis on intentionality and imagination in value creation, the scope for bargaining and strategic behaviour in his theory of markets and the avowed indeterminacies and equilibrating tendencies in his theory of price formation, are all consistent with other first-generation Austraian contributions. There is nothing especially Walrasian or Marshallian about Böhm-Bawer's. microeconomics     

An Experimental Education Market with Positive Externalities

A graphical approach shows that in order for the tax revenue to increase, following a reduction in the marginal rate, the increase of aggregate supply must be greater the lower the price level elasticity of aggregate demand.     

The Neglected Institutionalism of Wesley Clair Mitchell: The Theoretical Basis for Business Cycle Indicators

Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to evolutive processes itself, we explain the paradigmatical dominance of neoclassical theories in Economics as a path dependent process. Recognizing economics as "locked into neoclassical thinking," we first identify three positive feedback mechanisms leading to strong barriers to paradigmatic change: coordination, complementarity, and learning mechanisms. In a second step, we show how actors strategically enforce these mechanisms via distinct "amplifiers." We then try to use this theoretical perspective to cursorily describe potentially path-breaking strategies.     

Oligopoly and Merger: A Simple Classroom Game

Professor Miller describes a game which has been used in intermediate price theory courses as well as in introductory classes. Two versions are presented—a duopoly and a six-firm market, both with undifferentiated product and a known market demand schedule. Students are also asked to make a monopoly of the six firms by forming a trust or holding company. Miller contends that the game is more stimulating than lectures aud suspects that it will result in longer retention.