Henry Leveson-Gower, Author at PEP - Promoting Economic Pluralism

Governing the Accreditation System – for comment

We need to make sure that the accreditation system upholds –  and importantly develops –  the values and spirit of economic pluralism in teaching. It also needs to be accountable to the wider stakeholder community. So how can we do that? Here are some initial thoughts for your comment. We have looked at other similar … Continued

Accreditation – Assessment, Compliance and Learning – For Comment

Objective To seek comments on proposed processes for assessing whether masters programmes meet the criteria for taking a pluralist approach to teaching economics and ensuring ongoing compliance and collective learning. Context In general university department programmes are not accredited but do have to be approved by internal university processes, which take some time and are … Continued

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Draft Criteria for teaching economics from a pluralist perspective – now closed for comment

1. Recognition of the existence and potential value of a range of different perspectives from economics and other disciplines for understanding economic related issues. Rationale: This is the core value of those who take a pluralist approach to understanding the economy. 2. Incorporation of a reasonable breadth of perspectives into the curriculum with an expectation … Continued

What it means to take the heart seriously in economics education

Everything starts with an integral conception of the human being, radically different from the conventional-Cartesian view that the human being is a brain encapsulated by the skin. An integral conception of the human being naturally acknowledges that we are much more than thoughts, be these rational, or irrational for that matter. I would say historically, … Continued

Tackling the ‘Crisis of Conformity’ in Economics Teaching

The conformity in economics teaching in many ways is the most damaging aspect of our current economics discipline. Thousands of graduates all round the world enter work each year with the impression that there is only one way of thinking about organising our economies. Innovative and critical thinking is crushed just when we need it … Continued

Revealing the fudge in ‘Nudge Economics’ Review of Robert Sugden’s ‘The Community of Advantage’

Professor Sugden, a renowned and celebrated pioneer of behavioural economics, has written an important book. In it he skewers the “nudge economics” fudge that maintains the illusion of the possibility of economic rationality and reframes how we should judge markets. They are just one form of social collaboration for mutual benefit…. or not. It is … Continued

Economics for the Antropocene (or Capitalocene)

So what does an economics look like that is fit for the 21st century? The mainstream environmental economics framework of labelling the environment as an ‘externality’ clearly doesn’t fit the bill.  We are now dominating global ecosystems so they should hardly an add on in our thinking and models.  So what does an economics look … Continued

Outrage at corruption drove the reformation 500 years ago, couldn’t similar outrage drive a modern economic reformation?

Larry Elliot in his piece ‘Heretics welcome! Economics needs a new Reformation’ reported on Steve Keen and other leading economists ‘nailing’ 33 theses on ‘economic reformation’ to the door of a top university. This was designed to echo the apocryphal story of Luther nailing up his 95 theses 500 years ago. Clearly we do need … Continued

Economic Pluralism isn’t a Right-Left thing, but maybe it is a matter of national security

It might be thought that anyone who criticises the prevailing economic orthodoxy and calls for other approaches to understanding economics must be left wing. They might also be supposed to be anti-markets. However, neither of these suppositions are necessarily true. One of the most famous cases in point is Margaret Thatcher’ favourite economist, Friedrich Hayek. … Continued