Assessing the effectiveness of heterodox economic concepts in understanding real world issues: an international survey of students

An Economics Network funded project 2006-7

Project leaders: Dr Andrew Mearman (UWE), Dr Tim Wakeley
Contact: Andrew.Mearman@uwe.ac.uk, timwakeley1@msn.com

The broad purpose of the project is twofold:

1. to gather as much data as possible about students' perceptions of the value to them of exposure to ideas from heterodox economics (e.g. behavioural economics, evolutionary economics, institutional economics, complexity economics, Marxist economics etc...), particularly on the ability to analyse real world issues; and
2. to develop resources for the inclusion of heterodox economics into syllabuses.

The primary deliverables from this project are:

1. An international survey of economics (and related disciplines) students about the effectiveness of teaching heterodox economic concepts in aiding analysis of real world issues
2. Analysis of the survey providing evidence on heterodox economics as a pedagogical tool
3. Journal article(s) pertaining to (1) and (2)
4. Increased networking of economists, including internationally
5. The identification of key heterodox concepts which may be useful for teaching purposes
6. Resources facilitating the integration of heterodox economic concepts into the curriculum

Link: Powerpoint Presentation from DEE 2007 conference
Output: Project Final Report

This project received continuation funding for the 2007-8 academic year.