The Principles of Economics Course: A Historical Perspective

The author's research provides an amusing and thoughtful account of what has happened to the teaching of the beginning course in economics over the past century and should cause the profession to reflect upon what is known for sure about the relative effectiveness of various methods of presenting the subject to students. As one example, what is the role of close personal contact between teacher and student (as indicated by class size) in providing a favorable environment for learning the art and/or the science of economics?     

A Survey of Principles Instructors: Why Lecture Prevails

For many years, surveys have shown that lecture is the dominant method for teaching principles of economics (Watts and Schaur 2011; Watts and Becker 2008; Becker and Watts 1996, 2001a, b). The authors confirm this and augment it by asking why principles instructors teach the way they do. The respondents, 340 principles instructors at the 2012 Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) conference, group into thirds: one-third saying that students learn best from lecture; another third reporting that students do not learn best from lecture, but it is cost-effective; and the rest answering that students do not learn best from lecture, so alternatives are preferred. Lecture advocates often cite the inputs and costs of teaching while advocates of alternatives often cite student outcomes.     

Teaching Ecological and Feminist Economics in the Principles Course

It can be difficult to incorporate ecological and feminist concerns into introductory courses, when one is also obliged to teach neoclassical analysis. In this essay we briefly describe how one might extend existing “multi-paradigmatic” approaches to feminist and ecological concerns, and then present an new alternative approach that may be more suitable for some students. This “broader questions and bigger toolbox” approach can be applied in both microeconomics and macroeconomics introductory classrooms.     

The Preparation and Professionalization of Economics Instructors in Two-Year Colleges

With the rapid growth of two-year colleges and the probability that an increasing proportion of students will get their introductory economics in these institutions comes a natural concern over the quality of instruction found therein. Lewis reviews three surveys dealing with the preparation of junior college teachers of economics, offers explanations for the dearth of well-trained economists in the two-year colleges, and suggests ways of meeting the special needs of junior college teachers. He calls for both pre-service and in-service training programs designed to upgrade the teaching of economics in the two-year colleges.     

诺贝尔经济学奖获得者William Vickrey追忆

WilliamVickrey，哥伦比亚大学经济学荣誉教授，于1996年10月荣获诺贝尔经济学奖(与英国剑桥大学的JamesA.Mirrlees教授共获)。三天后，因心脏病逝世。由于健康问题，Vickrey夫人不能乘坐飞机，因此，我代Vickrey先生去斯德哥尔摩，接受此项殊荣。自1935年我和Vickrey教授一起在纽约哥伦比亚大学学习经济学以来，我们一直是好朋友，作为朋友和同事，我们一直有着密切往来，在他事业的巅峰，他的突然离去，不仅让他的夫人，他亲密的朋友感到难过，对广大民众来说也是不幸之事，他再也不能用他过人的才智推广和倡导他所深信的能为人类带来…     

The Effect of Macro/Micro Course Sequencing on Learning and Attitudes in Principles of Economics

Most of us naturally assume that the more courses a student takes the more he or she will learn. Little has been done, however, to determine just how much additional knowledge or understanding is acquired from economics courses above the introductory level. David Hartman, Director of Undergraduate Economics at Harvard, has taken an important step in attempting to measure the impact of the higher level courses. This atticle reports the results of a study of the effects of intermediate micro and macro courses, field courses, a “graduate-type highly theoretical course,” and a policy-oriented micro course. The report should be of great interest, and will probably engender additional research in other colleges.     

A Simple Model of Entrepreneurship for Principles of Economics Courses

The critical roles of entrepreneurs in creating, operating, and destroying markets, as well as their importance in driving long-term economic growth are still generally either absent from principles of economics texts or relegated to later chapters. The primary difficulties in explaining entrepreneurship at the principles level are the lack of a universally accepted definition, a plausible explanation of the demand for entrepreneurship, and a diagram that summarizes the impact of entrepreneurship on market equilibrium and growth—a definition, a story, and a picture. This article discusses how the notion of the stationary state associated with Schumpeter (1911 Schumpeter, J. A. 1911/1983. Theory of economic development., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]/1983), Knight (1921 Knight, F. H. 1921/1971. Risk, uncertainty and profit, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]/1971), and Weber (1930 Weber, M. 1930/2002. The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, New York: Scribner's.  [Google Scholar]/2002) can provide a framework for integrating the entrepreneur into the early part of principles of economics courses.     

Attributes of Effective Economics Instructors: An Analysis of Student Evaluations

Samuels reminds us of the influence that institutional economists have had on economic thought, and of the roles they have played as critics and specialists in various fields of economic inquiry.     

Towards Sustainability Economics: Principles and Values

Synopsis  Radical alternatives, in terms of our ideas about science in society, about economics, ideology and institutional arrangements, should be included among possibilities considered within the scope of a pluralistic philosophy. While all these aspects of our mental maps are interrelated and important, economics plays a key role in attempts to get closer to a sustainable society. Mainstream neoclassical economics is not enough. The tendency to exclusively rely on this particular theory is considered part of the problems faced. A ‘sustainability economics’ more in line with dominant ideas of democracy is proposed, emphasizing the ethical, ideological and political elements. Reference is made to institutional theory but the principles and concepts suggested are in many ways similar to other kinds of heterodox economics and developments in other social sciences. Neoclassical economics is used as a point of reference in pointing to alternative ideas about human beings, organizations, markets, decision- making, efficiency, rationality, progress in society and institutional change processes. Predilection for such an alternative conceptual framework (or for neoclassical economics) is not exclusively a scientific choice but as much a matter of political and ideological preferences. One paradigm may be dominant at a time, but because of the ideological specificity of each paradigm, competing theoretical perspectives should be accepted and even encouraged in a democratic society.      

A Training System for Graduate Student Instructors of Introductory Economics at the University of Minnesota

Lewis and Orvis report on a systematic teacher training program for Graduate Student Instructors involving an integrated series of student evaluations, videotaped lecture observations and instructional seminars. This program when evaluated showed a significant and measurable impact on both student and instructor performances in the classroom.     

William Hutt and the Economics of Apartheid

The work of William Hutt is well knownin the fields of labor economics, monetary economics and politicaleconomy. A hundred years after his birth it is appropriate totake note of a less well known work of his, The Economics ofthe Color Bar. This book, first published in 1964, is an in-depthexamination of the origins and implications of apartheid in SouthAfrica his adopted country of residence for 38 years of his life.It can be read today not only as an authoritative and illuminatingpolitical and social history of South Africa from its first colonizationuntil the time of writing, but also as a window into the originsof South Africas current dilemmas.     

The Principles of Economics from Now until Then

Using the Economics U$A television series, the authors conducted an experiment to test whether course length and concentration affect learning.     

On the Market for Principles of Economics Textbooks: Innovation and Product Differentiation

Tabular data are provided on the journals that have published economic education articles, the topics covered, and the individual authors. Institutions are ranked by their contributions to the economic education literature.