Bang! The scientist runs a cool experiment and the youngsters jump at the unexpected noise. They are now hooked. Science is fun personified and they subsequently entertain an education in Physics, Chemistry or Biology. Other subjects get into the act. A field trip to an area of outstanding beauty and a potential Geographer is created. Museum outings and we have budding Historians. Promotion activities are fine-tuned and, with regular exposure, a disciplinary brand is created. But what about Economics? This blog offers some reflections.
Economics, at face level, is at a disadvantage. Exposure to the discipline is more haphazard. Many Schools do not even offer study into the subject, either at GCSE or A-level. Exposure is often from sister subjects, such as Business Studies, where Economics is relegated to an apparent side-show. Perhaps the first mention of Economics will be derived from media stories? There will be news about the state of the economy; interviews with the Bank of England Governor as they justify an interest rate hike; shock as the FTSE tumbles. It creates a particular impression of Economics. It is macro biased, it is finance. This isn’t a fair advert for the discipline as a whole. The task of promoting Economics to perspective students is ultimately made more difficult. This is further hindered by the appearance of common misconceptions. Despite what some people think, it isn’t just the study of money. They are always wrong if they think A-Level Mathematics is a requirement. Breaking free from such fallacious thinking becomes a difficult exercise.
So how do we ensure a fairer understanding of what Economics really is? How can we overcome these innate biases to ensure that its image attracts a diverse talent? Economics is often falsely seen as simply an adaptation of Old Physics. There is, however, value in this comparison here. The hard sciences do advertise a solution to our engagement problem. Taking inspiration from their promotion approach, an obvious focus can be on the application of classroom experiments. Behavioural and experimental economics has undoubtedly grown in popularity. It is at the forefront of innovation in the discipline. It also has the important trait of offering a meaningful interactive way to teach economic concepts and methods to individuals of all ages.
Let’s take an example. An easily implemented classroom game is the public goods game. Flexible over audience size, it is similarly malleable in the mechanisms that you can highlight. You can encourage data collection. You can advertise talking points over key economic concepts. You can add demographic data to give social dimensions. Complexity is removed; intuition encouraged. The richness of economics can then be advertised by selecting across different games. Why are some countries rich and some poor? Trade games can be offered to offer an understanding of economic growth and the practical application to permit policy. Interest in Economics is piqued by offering diversity in the behavioural approach adopted.
As a discipline, Economics is waking up to its image constraints. The RES supported ‘Discover Economics’ campaign, for example, is not merely about providing a source of information for perspective students. It embraces outreach events and is looking to develop a national ambassador scheme. This will be alongside classroom activities, with current economics undergraduate students delivering taster sessions in schools. It is envisaged that this material will be taken from the CORE curriculum. For those unaware, CORE is itself partially a reaction to perception problems. Following the Financial Crisis, both student and staff chimed that Economics had lost its way in introducing economic debate. We can take the CORE perspective further with outreach. See it as winning the branding battle. Together with the application of behavioural insights, promotion can be maximised and inspiration for the next generation of Economists ensured. Perhaps that’s what pluralism in Economics really means? It is about providing an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of Economics. It is about highlighting the vibrancy of our study. No matter your background, and no matter your attitudes, you will therefore discover value in an Economics education. That is perhaps our own ‘bang’ moment.
The featured image is our very own Bahar Ghezelayagh entertaining potential Economists with a production line game.