The Downsizing of Economics Professors by Steven Payson

Author:Steven Payson
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Lexington Books

Figure 5.1  An Image of “Typical Economics” Taught in a Classroom (At an Introductory Graduate Level Using the Slutsky Equation Shown as an Example)

In creating Figure 5.1, I could have used, as a source, any of several standard microeconomics texts which I could have grabbed from my bookshelf. However, I chose Wikipedia as the source, to bring home the point of how easily available and accessible such pieces of economics education are on the Internet. And, as expected, this particular entry in Wikipedia is validated by its references to standard microeconomic textbooks written by two prominent economics professors (and thus there should be no concerns regarding its validity).

The equation shown in Figure 5.1 is, for economics, the broken leg that a doctor sees in the patient that was rushed to the emergency room. If data were applied to that equation, creating a table of results, perhaps that table of numbers would be analogous to the Xray of that broken leg. We could certainly see the importance of medical students seeing that broken leg, and its x-ray, in the hospital setting in which such a reality is taking place. That would be bringing the student to where the physical reality is occurring—bringing the student to the “message itself.” The Slutsky Equation shown in the figure is not physically occurring in any economics classroom—it is physically occurring in places like the grocery store (and countless other places) where consumers are altering what they decide to buy in response to changes in prices. The economics classroom, in this case, is the messenger only—not the message, and that classroom has no closer connection to the purchasing decisions of consumers than a video presentation of the Slutsky Equation on the Internet.

Those of us who have gone through the gamut of receiving a doctorate in the field have surely seen a wide spectrum of professors, some of whom had the ability to explain economic theory like the Slutsky Equation very well, and others who could not explain it well at all, even on their best day. (In the case of the latter, students could generally get by from studying the textbook and explaining the material to each other.)

Now let us suppose that the lectures of those at the lower end of the spectrum—the lousy lecturers—had their lectures replaced by video recordings of the lectures of the very best professors at explaining economic theory? There is no question in my mind that the students would greatly prefer to see the videos of the high-quality lectures than the live performance of poor-quality lectures, if both were offered at the same tuition rate. And, they would learn a great deal more from the video lecture, without feeling they were any more “removed” from the “reality of consumer behavior” than they are from seeing a live lecture. If that is the situation at the same price, imagine how much they would prefer the high-quality video lecture at the cost of, say, $2 each, as opposed to the poor-quality live lecture

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