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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Teaching Economics, Jonathan B. Wight
Teaching Economics, Jonathan B. Wight
Economics Faculty Publications
Ethical considerations intersect with economics education on a number of planes. Nonetheless, in terms of curricula, only a handful of economics departments offer courses specifically focused on ethics. This chapter addresses the ways in which instructors can incorporate ethical components into teaching principles and field courses in order to broaden economic understanding and to enhance critical thinking. It examines three pedagogical issues: the artificial dichotomy between positive and normative analysis; the limiting scope of efficiency in outcomes analyses; and the incorporation of alternative ethical frameworks into public policy debates.
Moral Reasoning In Economics, Jonathan B. Wight
Moral Reasoning In Economics, Jonathan B. Wight
Economics Faculty Publications
The Teagle discussion analyzes why economics teachers have become overly narrow in their pedagogical perspectives, thus pulling back from fully supporting the liberal arts agenda. In Chapter 1, Colander and McGoldrick (p. 6) observe that the generalist approach that excites students by asking "big think" questions across disciplinary boundaries fails to generate new knowledge, while the narrow "little think" questions that can be answered often fail to develop the critical thinking skills necessary for liberal education. As one example, the authors cite the decline of moral reasoning in economics, which was once center stage in Adam Smith's analysis of society. …
Will The Real Adam Smith Please Stand Up?: Teaching Social Economics In The Principles Course, Jonathan B. Wight
Will The Real Adam Smith Please Stand Up?: Teaching Social Economics In The Principles Course, Jonathan B. Wight
Economics Faculty Publications
Part of the difficulty of introducing social economics into the principles course is the perception that social economics is anathema to mainstream economics. As noted by Warren Samuels, however, "neoclassical economics is already a form of social economics" despite its "pretensions of methodological individualism and value-neutrality". Heilbroner also makes the case that the " ... the preponderance of great economists were aware of economics as explanation systems of particular socio-economic formations." Like it or not, economists err in omitting from their models what McCloskey calls "S" variables--variables representing the "social embeddedness" of values which direct human choices.