Studying Economics at UWS
I gave the talk below last Sunday at UWS’s Open Day, as an intoduction to economics for prospective university students. Preparing it made me reflect on the great good fortune I had to be appointed to UWS.
This might evoke a “Huh?” response from the usual suspects on such issues–why be pleased about being appointed to a second-rate University (and in an out-of-the-way place like Sydney to boot)? It’s because the Economics & Finance program at UWS has been almost unique amongst economics departments around the world in deliberately pursuing a “pluralist” approach to economics.
We decided a decade ago to teach a wide range of approaches to economics in the one department. So we have core subjects in Micro and Macro economics that teach the standard Neoclassical canon, subjects like Political Economy and my own major subject Behavioural Finance that provide a distinctly different analysis, the foundational subject History of Economic Thought (which I believe is vital for a proper understanding of economics today–and a major reason why so few economists really understand economic theory is that this subject has been abolished at almost all other universities around the world), and a range of subjects such as Government and the Economy where a non-standard approach is presented, along with conventional Neoclassical thought on the topic.
This could never have happened at an “Ivy League” University: the gatekeepers of the subject would have fought vigorously to undermine the program, which they would have seen as unprofessional–a topic covered at length in a (yes, I’m serious) Playboy article recently. That’s why places like UWS and the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) are where non-Neoclassical work flourished over the last 20 years–the mainstream ignored us.
For me, it gave me an environment in which I could work on my dynamic approach to economics, and apply that knowledge in my lectures, with the backing of my Head of School. In other universities, I would not have had the opportunity. I doubt that I could have been as successful in developing my alternative approach if I hadn’t had four consecutive supportive Heads of School, and many colleagues who were also outside the mainstream themselves.
This is an important point here for students considering where they might study economics. Normally, the better the University, the better its academic programs will be. But in economics, often the better the University, the worse the economics program will be because it will teach Neoclassical economics to the exclusion of all other approaches.
Before the world hit the economic wall in 2007, only renegade economists like myself were aware of this, and students would happily sign up to “Ivy League” Universities in preference to out-of-the-way places like UWS and UMKC. Now that the global economy has fallen into the debt crisis that Hyman Minsky warned could happen in a deregulated economy, the gamble that our Departments took to not follow the beaten path is paying dividends–both to the academics and their students. You’ll get a broader, better education off the beaten track than you’ll get on it–and your instructors will include people like me who saw the financial crisis coming.
Title: Out-of-the-way Places May Be A Ticket to International Fame
How many years has mankind accepted absolute spacetime until an unknown guy at a Swiss Patent Office proved that spacetime is absolutely non-absolute?
Maybe it also has something to do with Australia- Australian Scientists considering the discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (challenging prevailing dogmas) also was made by two Australian Scientists?
“Robin Warren (born 1937), a pathologist from Perth, Australia, observed small curved bacteria colonizing the lower part of the stomach (antrum) in about 50% of patients from which biopsies had been taken. He made the crucial observation that signs of inflammation were always present in the gastric mucosa close to where the bacteria were seen.
Barry Marshall (born 1951), a young clinical fellow, became interested in Warren’s findings and together they initiated a study of biopsies from 100 patients. After several attempts, Marshall succeeded in cultivating a hitherto unknown bacterial species (later denoted Helicobacter pylori) from several of these biopsies. Together they found that the organism was present in almost all patients with gastric inflammation, duodenal ulcer or gastric ulcer. Based on these results, they proposed that Helicobacter pylori is involved in the aetiology of these diseases.
Even though peptic ulcers could be healed by inhibiting gastric acid production, they frequently relapsed, since bacteria and chronic inflammation of the stomach remained. In treatment studies, Marshall and Warren as well as others showed that patients could be cured from their peptic ulcer disease only when the bacteria were eradicated from the stomach. Thanks to the pioneering discovery by Marshall and Warren, peptic ulcer disease is no longer a chronic, frequently disabling condition, but a disease that can be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors.
Peptic ulcer – an infectious disease!
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who with tenacity and a prepared mind challenged prevailing dogmas. By using technologies generally available (fibre endoscopy, silver staining of histological sections and culture techniques for microaerophilic bacteria), they made an irrefutable case that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is causing disease. By culturing the bacteria they made them amenable to scientific study.
In 1982, when this bacterium was discovered by Marshall and Warren, stress and lifestyle were considered the major causes of peptic ulcer disease. It is now firmly established that Helicobacter pylori causes more than 90% of duodenal ulcers and up to 80% of gastric ulcers. The link between Helicobacter pylori infection and subsequent gastritis and peptic ulcer disease has been established through studies of human volunteers, antibiotic treatment studies and epidemiological studies.”
From: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2005/press.html
It’s like this in many disciplines now. Kudos to UWS.
US unemployment is in part down because of a huge reduction in labor force participation (discouraged workers, baby boomer ritirees). The European employment figures may be even worse when this principle is taken in account.
At a stable rate of labor force participation since 2008, US unemployment would be at 11%.
I was fortunate enough to go through a degree at UWS which included Steve’s classes. Steve was an inspiration in many ways, most of all in challenging established thinking and thinking outside the square. This has served me well over the years, and apologies for turning it on in this blog lately.
Thank you!
Political Economy at USYD is similar to what you describe Steve, though the fact that at UWS it is called ‘Economics’ does grant it greater prestige. UWS is similar to the University of Newcastle in this respect.