Title: Principles of economics textbooks: lessons to be learned in light of the financial crisis

Authors: Poul Thøis Madsen

Addresses: Research Center for Evaluation, Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, Fibigerstraede 1, Room 61, DK-9220 Aalborg Oest, Denmark

Abstract: Has the financial crisis already changed US principles of economics textbooks? Rather little has changed in individual textbooks, but taken as a whole ten of the best-selling textbooks suggest rather encompassing changes of core curriculum. A critical analysis of these changes shows how individual textbooks could become even better at grasping the financial crisis than the textbooks are now as a collective. This would require a development of curriculum incorporating theoretical and historical dimensions of the financial crisis and a more pluralistic attitude by integrating conflicting interpretations of the financial crisis and its causes, remedies, and possible consequences.

Keywords: economics textbooks; financial crisis; economics education; core curriculum; USA; United States; pluralism; economic crisis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPEE.2012.051135

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, 2012 Vol.3 No.3, pp.240 - 251

Published online: 16 Aug 2014 *

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