New Undergraduate Economics Curriculum

Two hundred and fifty students at University College London (UCL) start learning economics in a new way today, Wednesday 1 October.

Antonio Cabrales, their professor, says:

‘Economics teaching has failed to convey the exciting progress made in many fields in economics over recent decades in addressing the big questions about the economy. We are hoping to change that.’

The course at UCL is part of a worldwide beta test of The Economy, a new online introduction to the field, which will – the course materials say – teach economics 'as if the last three decades had happened'. The course is based on an ebook, the beta version of which is now available to anyone for free online at www.core-econ.org

The Economy combines text with pop-up questions to track learning and spark discussion as well as videos of Economists in Action. Students can click on an Einstein pop-up for help with difficult concepts.

Models and data come to life with interactive diagrams. Though the project has not been advertised and is barely launched, it already has almost 4,000 registered users.

The Economy is produced by the CORE Project (Curriculum Open access Resources in Economics), which is a group of more than 20 leading economists from around the world, coordinated by Professor Wendy Carlin of UCL. The CORE Project, launched in November 2013 at HM Treasury, is funded by the Institute for New Economics Thinking (INET) in New York and based at INET Oxford, part of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford.

‘Economists in universities and central banks were found wanting when the financial crisis hit’, Carlin says. ‘Students from Manchester to Santiago, Chile, demanded courses that helped them understand and engage with the big questions they face – not only the financial crisis, but rising inequality and environmental degradation.’