A Nightmare in Introductory Economics

In a pair of 1925 lectures, John Maynard Keynes described world economic history with reference to a classification of stages developed by John R. Commons. This article examines Keynes’s two 1925 lectures in the context of Commons’s writings. It spotlights lesser-known aspects of Commons’s scholarship and helps clarify ambiguities in Keynes’s two addresses. It also identifies a key document, written by Commons, upon which Keynes relied when developing his presentations. In addition, the article explains how the work of Commons and Keynes in the 1920s has relevance for the contemporary development of evolutionary Keynesianism (which can also be called Post-Keynesian Institutionalism).     

Values and the Economics Principles Courses

Every economics teacher has probably wrestled with the problem of how to deal with values, and because of recent student demands for relevance this problem has become more troublesome. Professor Horton believes that economists should teach “only what we believe has been scientifically established” and “should not promote particular values or particular social decisions….” He asserts that values and goals should be considered in economic classes, however, and in this article he suggests a procedure for teaching a unit on values and goals.     

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.     

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.     

A Meta-analysis of the Gender Gap in Performance in Collegiate Economics Courses

The conventional wisdom has been that men outperform otherwise equivalent women in collegiate economics courses. Recent work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields documenting gains by women suggests that it is time to reevaluate the gender performance gap in economics. Surveying 68 studies containing 235 distinct regressions published since 1980, we find that 68.4% of regressions report men outperform women, though this is only statistically significant in 30.7% of regressions. Although the literature points to numerous reasons for this gap, our focus is on the effects of study design and the impact of broad socio-cultural changes over time. Using meta-regression analysis, we find that the likelihood of observing a statistically significant gap has declined noticeably, by almost 3% annually. Although the drop may not be as large as in some STEM fields, the result is highly robust to the specification of the time trend and the model.     

基于实验经济学的信息定价效率研究

本文从理论角度对不同信息结构下的市场定价效率进行比较分析,通过设置13组不同信息结构的实验来验证信息对称是否是市场有效定价的充分或必要条件,私有信息的不同含量是否会对市场定价效率产生不同的影响。研究结果显示:在理论上,定价效率最优并不在信息完全对称的市场信息结构下出现,而是当私有信息拥有者的占比达到一定比例时出现。也就是说,理论上私有信息在市场中是具备一定的定价效率的,定价效率的高低与非私有信息拥有者的占比、对交易信息的认知和理解能力等因素有关。在本文的实验中,表现为随着市场中私有信息拥有者占比的增加,市场定价效率先是提高,当达到一定极值后,信息效率又会逐渐降低,即形成一个倒U型波状走势。     

The Committee on Economic Education: Its Effect on the Introductory Course and Women in Economics

The percentage of women economics majors has stagnated for decades. This is creating a bottleneck in the pipeline of female economists. The Committee on Economic Education (CEE) of the American Economic Association (AEA) is charged with fostering economic understanding and effective teaching. An examination of its structure, membership and activities over the past 35 years, however, suggests that it has narrowed the scope of economic ideas presented in introductory economics and has not convinced instructors of the benefits of a more active learning environment. The task of engaging students in the search for greater knowledge has largely been left to heterodox “visionaries,” members of the profession who have tried to find ways to make economics courses more interesting and inviting to all students, and especially to under-represented groups. We conclude that the CEE’s membership and structure contribute to the small percentage of the increasingly female undergraduate population who major in economics.     

A Student Learning Inventory for Economics Based on the Students' Experience of Learning: A Preliminary Study

The authors present the initial development of a student learning inventory (SLI) that is specific to economics. This approach, which is based on the student experience of learning (SEL) literature, emphasizes aspects of prior knowledge in the learning history of entering first-year students. Preliminary insights from a first SLI suggest that on entry to university, students show considerable variation in their perceptions of what economics is and what economists do. From the SEL perspective, such variation affects student learning. It is argued that continued development of an economic-specific SLI may result in a better understanding of students' learning engagement with economics and ultimately assist instructors in better understanding student learning difficulties and increase student success in first-year economics.     

The Lasting Effects of an Introductory Economics Course: An Exploratory Study

The author advocates the application of experiential learning in economics courses at the tertiary level. The author evaluates a range of learning methods, both passive and active, in a student survey that provides data on under-graduate attitudes to various class activities. The results indicate a clear student preference for learning activities in economics that can be described as experiential. Analysis of reported student preferences also detects differences according to gender and day or evening class attendance.     

The Economics of Vocational and Technical Education: A Report on three Studies

This paper analyzes new forms of flexibility in the US apparel industry and the consequences of this flexibility for labor market segmentation. Post-Fordist flexible work organization takes place only in those enterprises that occupy privileged positions in newly established hierarchical networks of firms. Subcontracting work to smaller firms results in labor segmentation between rather than within firms. Dominant firms in hierarchical networks gain production efficiencies similar to that attained by a fixed hierarchy within Fordist type enterprises. For most apparel workers, the new production system could best be described as neo-Fordist, since it appears to be predicated on routinization and work intensification.     

Student Evaluations of Teaching and the Cognitive Level of Economics Courses

The Journal of Economic Education of Fall 1973 was devoted to the subject of student evaluations of teachers. That issue has engendered a great many papers, only a few of which can be published in the JEE because of space limitations. Michael Everett's report is not a mere replication of previous research on the subject, but adds a new dimension—the possible effect of student evaluations on the cognitive level of college economics courses. His finding that students may favor professors who emphasize lower level cognitive material will surely be distressing to many teachers, and should cause sober reflection on the part of administrators and others involved in establishing faculty evaluation procedures and policies.     

福利经济学视角下的效率与公平

效率与公平问题是当前社会讨论的热点话题,关于效率与公平的内涵、关系以及组合模式,国内理论界众说纷纭.笔者试从一个新的视角--福利经济学的角度--来重新阐释效率与公平问题.笔者认为:第一,既要重视收入分配公平,又要重视社会公平;第二,实现效率与公平的最优组合需要市场和政府双管齐下;第三,我国当前应实行效率与公平并重的原则.     

对社会转型期《劳动经济学》课程内容建设的思考

课程内容建设是课程建设的关键。在社会转型期,劳动经济学课程内容建设应该将西方劳动经济学的一般原理与我国市场经济的具体实践相结合,关注经济现实,立足于问题研究,着眼于学科发展,为学生了解经济发展的规律和劳动力市场的实践服务。     

中国区域能源效率趋同性研究:基于空间经济学视角

文章首先采用基于投入导向的规模报酬不变的超效率DEA模型测算了1991-2008年中国各地区的能源效率,然后进行了地区能源效率的空间相关性分析,并基于空间计量分析方法对能源效率的趋同性进行了实证检验,同时还探寻了造成能源效率地区差异的影响因素。结果表明,我国区域能源效率之间的正相关性逐渐增强,能源效率分布呈空间集聚趋势;在样本期内,我国能源效率存在绝对β趋同特征,且条件β趋同迹象也很明显,产业结构、工业化水平、政府行为和FDI等因素是造成能源效率地区差异的重要原因。     

基于问卷调查的应用型高校西方经济学课程双语教学效果研究

为了更好地在应用型高校开展西方经济学双语课程建设,有必要面向学生开展问卷调查,了解学生对教学的满意程度以及学生对教学过程和教学效果的客观评价,并分析发现当前双语教学中存在的主要问题,从而提出将学生按英语基础不同分班授课、按需修改课程设置,以及加强对双语教师培养的改进建议来提高西方经济学双语教学的效果。