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I currently teach at a business school (Bachelors and Masters) in
France that has decided to eliminate Economics from its program (Junior,
Senior and Masters years) insisting that it is taught across the other
courses (micro = marketing, finance, productions...). They have kept only
some hours for European Economics (macro issues).

As an economist, I am more than a bit surprised, but I would like to
study the issue. Is this possible ? Is this desired ? Has anyone else done
this ? What do you think ?

One could be snide and say good riddance to the dismal science. But seriously,
it does seem surprising. Economics remains a major field of study in the U.S.,
offered at the undergraduate level by liberal arts colleges or by business
schools, with graduate programs to the doctoral levels in many if not most
research institutions. Speaking as a non-economist, I can say with confidence
that economics is not taught in the courses you list, though it may be touched
on peripherally in finance.
Hope this is helpful.

Evans Daniel Scott wrote:

> I currently teach at a business school (Bachelors and Masters) in
> France that has decided to eliminate Economics from its program (Junior,
> Senior and Masters years) insisting that it is taught across the other
> courses (micro = marketing, finance, productions...). They have kept only
> some hours for European Economics (macro issues).
>
> As an economist, I am more than a bit surprised, but I would like to
> study the issue. Is this possible ? Is this desired ? Has anyone else done
> this ? What do you think ?

Anything is possible... but is it desirable?

I happen to think that it would be a mistake as it simply means
that each course needs to add some hours of econ to what is likely
to be a crowded course as well as requiring a fair bit of coordination
(who will teach what pieces).

Admittedly, I find that I have to review some concepts as most
students don't seem to connect what they have taken in other
courses with what they are currently learning, which may be the
source of the perceived "we may as well teach it in the courses
where they will use it". I also suspect that no one has thought
through how much time it will take.

At the University of Puget Sound, micro and macro were combined
into a single undergrad course. That seemed to work well.
However, it was part of a major overhaul of the curriculum, so it was
easy to make sure that the other pieces were included in the
correct courses.

Good luck

Dave Ackerman
University of Alaska Southeast


> I currently teach at a business school (Bachelors and Masters) in
> France that has decided to eliminate Economics from its program (Junior,
> Senior and Masters years) insisting that it is taught across the other
> courses (micro = marketing, finance, productions...). They have kept only
> some hours for European Economics (macro issues).
>
> As an economist, I am more than a bit surprised, but I would like to
> study the issue. Is this possible ? Is this desired ? Has anyone else
> done this ? What do you think ?

On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Evans Daniel Scott wrote:

> I currently teach at a business school (Bachelors and Masters) in
> France that has decided to eliminate Economics from its program (Junior,
> Senior and Masters years) insisting that it is taught across the other
> courses (micro = marketing, finance, productions...). They have kept only
> some hours for European Economics (macro issues).
>
> As an economist, I am more than a bit surprised, but I would like to
> study the issue. Is this possible ? Is this desired ? Has anyone else done
> this ? What do you think ?
>
I'm also an economist teaching in a business school and see two basic
problems.
1. The high degree of economic illiteracy among business students and many
business school faculty members.
2. The high degree of resistance to economics courses for business
students among many business school facultymembers.
All of which begs the question, how can we expect our students to be
successful without an understanding of our economic system?


Dick Dailey
Department of Management
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-1216 BIG SKY COUNTRY!!
406 243 6644/Voice-Office
406 549 6876/Voice-Home Office
406 243 2086/Fax
rtd@selway.umt.edu

Dick Dailey wrote:

>All of which begs the question, how can we expect our students to be
>successful without an understanding of our economic system?

With due respect to Dick and other economists on this list, I think the
real question here is "What do we expect our students to learn about our
economic system from our economics courses?" The challenge is not to the
importance of economic knowledge; it is to the effectiveness of Economics
courses in capturing and conveying that knowledge.

There seems to be some bath water mixed up with some babies here. Part of
the issue is whether standard economic courses impart more real
understanding than they do false models. And before people divide up teams
and start cheering for a side here, my belief is that this really is an
open question. There is clearly some basic knowledge and some useful
models which Economics can impart. There are also some models that seem to
have too many assumptions to be real under any circumstances, yet they are
presented as examinable truth.

I think this is a productive challenge, one where some serious evaluative
thinking may produce improved results. I'd be interesting in hearing more
from both the seers and the emperors about the condition of this Emperor's
wardrobe. What parts of economics really should be treated as foundation
elements in business education? What parts should be put into the
"competing paradigms" basket, or the "alternative theories" envelope? Can
anyone suggest parts of standard 1, 2, or 3 course Econ series that we
should joyously discard?




+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+/+
Prof. Thomas A. Bryant, Ph.D., Visiting Professor and
State of New Jersey Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Faculty of Management, MEC 326
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
111 Washington Avenue, NEWARK, NJ 07102-3027 U.S.A.
Tel: (973) 353-1062; Fax: (973) 353-1664
e-mail: tabryant@andromeda.rutgers.edu

At 10:24 PM 11/30/1998 -0500, you wrote:
>Dick Dailey wrote:
>
>>All of which begs the question, how can we expect our students to be
>>successful without an understanding of our economic system?
>
>With due respect to Dick and other economists on this list, I think the
>real question here is "What do we expect our students to learn about our
>economic system from our economics courses?" The challenge is not to the
>importance of economic knowledge; it is to the effectiveness of Economics
>courses in capturing and conveying that knowledge.
>

To continue with this thought, I suppose this applies to all of our
business courses - managment, marketing, finance, accounting, etc.

Actually its rather frustrating when I think about it.


Mitchell Adrian
Assistant Professor of Management
Longwood College
201 High St.
Farmville, VA 23901
(804) 395-2832
(804) 395-2203 - Fax
http://web.lwc.edu/staff/madrian/adrhome.htm


Despite the cost of living, it's still quite popular.