The Economists of Tomorrow

Freeman, Alan (2009): The Economists of Tomorrow.

Abstract

This paper is a prepublication version of a submission to the International Review of Economics Education.

It outlines a code of conduct for economics, in the form of a pluralist benchmark for Quality Assurance in economics education. This is a necessary corrective to the publicly-recognised failure of economics in the face of the 2008 crisis, which Colander et al (2009 term its “systemic failure”. This systemic failure is analysed as a consequence of the regulatory capture of the academic profession of economics, arising from and institutionalised by its present peer ranking procedures.

Pluralism is the necessary antidote. It affords two decisive benefits: it produces good economics and better economists.

The paper is part of a broad consultation on teaching in economics, organised by the UK-based Association for Heterodox Economists (AHE). It argues that a pluralist subject benchmark, derived from a pluralist code of conduct, is a prerequisite for the reform of the profession. Critical, pluralistic and independent thinking should be the primary requirement good economic practice, and pecific provisions should be made to recognise, promote, defend and guarantee this good practice in teaching and assessment alike.

Systemic failure requires a systemic solution. The paper explains how the built-in tendency of the economic profession to select for conformity has led to its regulatory capture. Existing UK benchmarks have substituted peer-ranking – the appointment of judges selected for comformity – for collaborative peer review – the pluralistic integration of the strengths of the academic community.

This past practice has become institutionalised at every level. The profoundly non-scientific practice of simply reproducing a politically acceptable consensus has thereby replaced the independent and critical pursuit of knowledge as the primary peer-recognised hallmark of quality.

Tomorrow’s economists need to be defended against the systemic failure of the economics of today. This requires a conscious regulatory intervention – benchmarking for pluralism.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Economics Teaching, Pluralism, Heterodox Economics
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A13 - Relation of Economics to Social Values; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches; A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A11 - Role of Economics ; Role of Economists ; Market for Economists

References

Brenner, R. 2002. The Boom and the Bubble: The US in the World Economy (p. 303). Verso.

Briody M and Prenzler T (1998), ‘The Enforcement of Environmental Protection Laws in Queensland: A Case of Regulatory Capture'’ Environmental and Planning Law Journal, Vol 15, No 1

Buiter, W., 2009. ‘The unfortunate uselessness of most ’state of the art’ academic monetary economics’. Financial Times, March 3 2009

Card, D. E. 1995. Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

Colander, D., Hans Foellmer, Armin Haas, Michael Goldberg, Katarina Juselius, Alan Kirman, et al., 2009. ‘The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of Academic Economics’.

Desai, R., 1994. Second-Hand Dealers in Ideas: Think-Tanks and Thatcherite Hegemony. New Left Review I, no. 203 (February)

ESRC. 2009. International Benchmarking Review of UK economics. London: ESRC. Retrieved January 7, 2009,

Freeman, A. 2008. Submission from the Association for Heterodox Economics to the international benchmarking review on research assessment. On the Horizon 16, no. 4: 279 - 285.

Freeman, A. and A. Kliman (2008). ‘Beyond Talking the Talk’ in Fullbrook, E. (2008) (ed) Pluralist Economics. Zed Books

Frey, B. S., 2003. ‘Publishing as Prostitution? Choosing Between One’s Own Ideas and Academic Failure’, Public Choice, vol. 116: 205-223.

Frey, B. S. and Osterloh, M. (2007), ‘Evaluations: Hidden Costs, Questionable Benefits, and Superior Alternatives’ IEW Working Paper Series No. 302, February.

Fullbrook, A. (2005). Teaching Economics: PAE and Pluralism. Post-Autistic Economics Network, July 2005. http://www.paecon.net/PAEarticles/Fullbrook2.htm. (Retrieved March 6, 2009)

Fullbrook, E. (2001). Real Science is Pluralist; An Argument for Pluralism in Economics. Post-Autistics Economics Network. http://www.paecon.net/PAEtexts/Fullbrook1.htm. (Retrieved March 6, 2009)

Fullbrook, E. (2008). Pluralist Economics. Zed Books Ltd.

Gans, J. S. and Shepherd, G.B. (1994), ‘How the mighty have fallen: Rejected classic articles by leading economists’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8: 165-79.

Grazia Ietto-Gillies. (2008a). A XXI-century alternative to XX-century peer review. Real-World Economics Review, (45).

Hodgson, G., U. Mäki and D. McCLoskey (originators) ‘A Plea for a Pluralistic and Rigorous Economics’. (1992). The American Economic Review, 82(2).

ICAPE (International Confederation for Pluralism in Economics) website, http://www.icape.org/

International Institute for Public Ethics, http://www.iipe.org/

Jenkins, S. ‘When the going gets tough, the economists get going’, July 6th 2009 Guardian

Lee, F. S. (2007) Appendix 1 in Lee, F. S. (2007). ‘The Research Assessment Exercise, the state and the dominance of mainstream economics in British universities.’ Camb. J. Econ., 31(2), 309-325.

Lee, F. S. and Sandra Harley. (1998). Peer Review, The Research Assessment Exercise and the Demise of Non-Mainstream Economics. Capital and Class, (66), 23-53.

Lee, F.S., 2009 An Informational Directory for Heterodox Economists. http://cas.umkc.edu/ECON/economics/faculty/Lee/docs/HeterodoxDirectory2nd.pdf (Retrieved December 1, 2008)

Manning, A. 2003. Monopsony in Motion. Princeton University Press.

Mason, P., 2009 Meltdown: the End of the Age of Greed. London. Verso.

PAE students. World Students Petition for Post-Autistic Economics. Retrieved May 1, 2008, from http://www.btinternet.com/~pae_news/wsp.htm.

Pettifor, A., 2006. The Coming First World Debt Crisis (1st ed.). Palgrave.

Portes, R., 2008. Royal Economic Society Valedictory. Royal Economic Society. http://www.res.org.uk/society/pdfs/newsletter/apr08.pdf. (Retrieved December 25, 2008)

Real World Economics Review (formerly Post-Autistic Economics Review), http://www.paecon.net/

Shiller, R. J., 2006. Irrational Exuberance (2nd ed.). Broadway Business.

Stiglitz, J,. 2008. The Triumphant Return of John Maynard Keynes. Project Syndicate, December 1 2008. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz107.

Tett, G.., 2009. Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe. Free Press.

Turner, G., 2008. The Credit Crunch: Housing Bubbles, Globalisation and the Worldwide Economic Crisis. Pluto Press (UK).

Wolf, M. 2008. “It is time for comprehensive rescues of financial systems.” Financial Times, October 7