Workshop: What students learn in 'Econ101': Time for Change

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Author
Michael Mietz
Co-Author Michael Mietz
Description First impressions are everything. Most students who take up an introductory economics course are taught a basic, and standardized story. Econ101 students are expected to learn to 'think like an economist' but this intuition can prove treacherous. There is a growing chasm between Econ101 and the research frontier. This has led to a global movement of students seeking change. In this keynote we present a technique that uses natural language processing to track the changing face of introductory textbooks. The evidence shows that the time has come for a critical and pluralist revolution.
Topic Rethink the (economics) curriculum
Format Research lab
Bio Thinking outside the box, hoping to contribute to a democratic, sustainable society. After a degree in history from the University of Ghent, and a brief stint as a high school educator, I decided to follow a long-time passion of mine; economics. While pursuing a degree in this subject I noticed how contested the scientific field of economics had become over the years, yet how little of this was reflected in education worldwide. Seeing the founding 'Rethinking Economics' in the UK in 2014 led me to decide such an organization was necessary as well in Belgium. After finding kindred spirits we founded first chapter of Rethinking Economics in the northern part of the country in 2018, in support of the wider network of Rethinking Economics Belgium, then only active in Brussels and Wallonia. Since then I have pursued a master's degree in general economics, specializing in economic history, the history of economic thought, heterodox economic thought, and scientific pluralism.