Comments on: Teaching Through Coaching: Bringing IDEAS into the Economics Classroom

By: William Cornwell

William Cornwell — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:18:26 +0000

I suppose that economics could be a purely descriptive science and in that sense be “amoral,” but economists, as economists, often make policy recommendations. Unless economists are prepared to stick to the description of general laws, statistical generalizations, etc. and to swear off prescribing how society ought to distribute finite resources and opportunities, I can’t see economics as an “amoral” science.

I also can’t agree that some economists are not partly responsible for our current problems. For instance, although there is plenty of blame to go around, many economists of the last 15 years, including Larry Summers, championed looser regulatory oversight of the financial industry and the elimination of the Glass-Steagall Act. (Of course, other economists opposed these policy decisions.) We’re all paying the price for those decisions now.

By: Hope Benne

Hope Benne — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:53:19 +0000

This exchange of ideas here is so appreciated and meaningful because we’re trying to come to grips with our great need to share knowledge with each other across the School of Arts and Sciences.

I’m afraid many of our sciences, social sciences, and humanities have become so complex, we’re getting lost in the mechanics and losing track of the bigger picture.

The bigger picture is that we humans are still creatures of the geosphere, biosphere, and astrosphere and completely beholden to Nature. That’s why failure to consider “external costs” when it comes to the environment is a failure that is hard to excuse. Scholars, whose narrowly circumscribed theories fail to give a prominent place to Nature and her “goods and services,” give the impression they are in a world of their own and imply that Nature is dependent on humans rather than humans being dependent on Nature.

When we narrowly circumscribe some study or theory we remove it from its natural state because no natural systems are closed. John Muir said “When we tug at one thing in nature, we find that it is connected to the rest of the world.”

Therefore, in pursuit of the truths of life, don’t you think we could allow ourselves to gaze across borders, decipher other disciplines, and refrain from circumscribing a system or a theory so much that we lose sight of how it is connected?

By: Kevin Beckwith

Kevin Beckwith — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:48:23 +0000

It should probably be pointed out that those who caused this current mess with the economy were not economists (think finance, business, politicians, but not economists). Economists, like most others in the natural or social sciences, are not amoral. The theory is amoral, but the application is always influenced by cultural factors. If a moral people have access to information that is accurate and complete, the market solution to a problem would be moral (however one may define that.) The breakdown in the market mechanism occurs when the information is either incomplete or inaccurate. When that happens, mistakes happen. Whether the current situation was caused by undo influence of immoral actions or the paucity of complete/accurate information remains to be seen.

By: Chris Fauske

Chris Fauske — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:45:44 +0000

That economics may be amoral (is this a trait only of the sciences? Isn’t History amoral? English?) doesn’t mean that economists should be amoral, and, if so, then as moral agents they are accountable for the consequences of their actions, whether intentioned or not, whether the result of commission, omission, or simple oversight. Unless they were ignorant, in which case there is little hope for the idea that current problems can be solved by an economic brains trust.

By: Kevin Beckwith

Kevin Beckwith — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:47:48 +0000

Economics in its purest sense is amoral. It’s not that economists have chosen this route, rather it is the nature of the science. Most people ignore (or are ignorant of) external costs in one way or another. The current financial situation has arisen since those involved did not factor in the true costs of their actions. The Madoff scandal falls into the same category.

Ethical implications can be covered in the classroom, and to some extent it might enlighten a few. Yet I wonder how much difference it would have made for those people who have been at the root cause of the current financial situation. They exploited the all too present trait of greed in human nature.

As for the Nobel Prize, the prize in Economics is not one of the originally endowed prizes. In fact, it is officially called The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

By: Hope Benne

Hope Benne — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:13:03 +0000

Thank you so much, Kevin, for taking the time to share with us your rock-solid methodology for teaching economics.

But, when thinking of economics right now, I’m more interested in knowing if you present any kind of a moral or ethical analysis in your classes? It seems some economists have championed a “value free” and “neutral” approach and have ignored ethical implications, just as up until recently, we ignored the environmental costs of our industrial processes.

Finally, have you ever wanted to ask the Nobel Prize Committee why they award a prize for Economics and not for History, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, or Geography?!

By: Rob Brown

Rob Brown — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:38:49 +0000

Coaching is the analogy I use most often to describe my role as a teacher. A great coach and teacher: John Wooden, UCLA men’s basketball coach for many championship seasons. What did he teach? How players should put their socks on — because it they did that simple thing poorly, they’d get blisters and hurt the team’s chances on the court.

Nice of Chris Fauske to encourage the “conversation,” which is of course the core principle of the digitized world.

By: Rob Brown

Rob Brown — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:38:33 +0000

Nice of Chris Fauske to encourage the “conversation,” which is of course the core principle of the digitized world.

My twitter address:
@gatheringlight