About

Motivation

Economics education plays a vital role in our societies as it trains the most powerful technocrats we have, and heavily influences our leaders. Economists wield considerable power as key advisors in policymaking, directing major public institutions like central banks and international organisations (Maesse, Pühringer, Rossier, & Benz, 2022; Christensen, 2017; Earle, Moran, & Ward-Perkins, 2016; Hirschman, & Berman, 2014). Their ideas also permeate societal decision-making, guiding business, media and citizens grappling with complex challenges. Today, understanding the economy is more crucial than ever amidst global crises including financial crises, ecological breakdown, growing inequality and power concentration, democratic backsliding, pandemics, and geopolitical conflicts. To prepare future generations of economists for their influential roles, it is essential that economics education is up to the task. 

Textbooks play a central role in economics education as (by far) the most used type of teaching material. In European undergraduate economics degrees, for example, 90% of the students learn from textbooks, followed only at 57% with webpages and pre-recorded videos, 54% with news articles, and 50% with research papers (EEA, 2023). Which textbook is chosen, and what that textbook discusses, thus largely determines what economics students learn. 

Project Description

We conduct this study to contribute to the research literature on economics textbooks and help economics educators make informed decisions about which teaching material suits their needs best. Leading experts will (blindly) review the extent to which globally used introductory economics textbooks are in line with empirical findings on key topics. The project has recently started and the purpose of the website is to already share the plan with (potential) collaborators. Advice, help and support are very welcome.

Literature Review

Previous studies have investigated, amongst other aspects, the evolution of economics textbooks (Colander, 2012, 2015; Giraud, 2018), what the dominant frames are (Bäuerle, 2021), and how specific topics are taught like climate change (Liu, Bauman & Chuang, 2019), rationality (Jones, 2021), the representations of men and women, minorities and the poor (Clawson, 2002; Robson, 2001; Stevenson & Zlotnick, 2018), entrepreneurship (Kent, 1989), cooperatives (Kalmi, 2007), and the global financial crisis of 2008 (Madsen, 2013). We will build on these previous studies and aim to contribute to further understanding of economics textbooks by focusing on their empirical accuracy on a range of societally relevant topics.

Organisation

This project is coordinated by the Centre for Economy Studies. The Centre for Economy Studies focuses on modernising academic economics education and is part of Our New Economy (ONE). ONE is an independent think tank based in the Netherlands that works on renewing economics and business education at the academic, professional and secondary level. This project is financially supported by The JJ Charitable Trust.

References

Bäuerle, L. (2021). The power of economics textbooks: shaping meaning and identity. In Power and Influence of Economists (pp. 53-69). Routledge.

Christensen, J. (2017). The power of economists within the state. Stanford University Press.

Clawson, R. A. (2002). Poor people, Black faces: The portrayal of poverty in economics textbooks. Journal of Black Studies, 32(3), 352-361.

Colander, D. (2012). The evolution of US economics textbooks. The Economic Reader: Textbooks, Manuals and the Dissemination of the Economic Sciences During the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, 136, 324.

Colander, D. (2015). Why economics textbooks should, but don’t, and won’t, change. European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, 12(2), 229-235.

Earle, J., Moran, C., & Ward-Perkins, Z. (2016). The econocracy: The perils of leaving economics to the experts. Manchester University Press.

EEA. (2023). Undergraduate Economics Education in Europe. Cloda Jenkins, Marco Paccagnella and Clementine Bachelart of the European Economic Association Education Committee.

Giraud, Y. (2018). Textbooks in the historiography of recent economics (pp. 137-154). SSRN.

Hirschman, D., & Berman, E. P. (2014). Do economists make policies? On the political effects of economics. Socio-economic review, 12(4), 779-811.

Jones, M. K. (2021). The concept of rationality in introductory economics textbooks. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 20(1), 37-47.

Kalmi, P. (2007). The disappearance of cooperatives from economics textbooks. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 31(4), 625-647.

Kent, C. A. (1989). The treatment of entrepreneurship in principles of economics textbooks. The Journal of Economic Education, 20(2), 153-164.

Liu, J. C. E., Bauman, Y., & Chuang, Y. (2019). Climate Change and Economics 101: Teaching the Greatest Market Failure. Sustainability, 11(5), 1340.

Madsen, P. T. (2013). The financial crisis and principles of economics textbooks. The Journal of Economic Education, 44(3), 197-216.

Maesse, J., Pühringer, S., Rossier, T., & Benz, P. (2022). Power and influence of economists: Contributions to the social studies of economics. Taylor & Francis.

Robson, D. (2001). Women and minorities in economics textbooks: Are they being adequately represented?. The Journal of Economic Education, 32(2), 186-191.

Stevenson, B., & Zlotnick, H. (2018). Representations of men and women in introductory economics textbooks. In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 108, pp. 180-185). 2014 Broadway, Suite 305, Nashville, TN 37203: American Economic Association.