Pluralism in Economics: A Public Good or a Public Bad?

A pluralist approach to economics is both necessary from anacademic as well a policy point of view. From an academicviewpoint pluralism can be understood as the outcome ofcompetition and specialization in the search for new ideasthat can deal with imperfections of the real world. From apolicy point of view a diversity of view is also desirableas it helps to spread the risk of large mistakes in policychoices. However, the present-day teaching practices andtextbooks are by and large not well suited to deal with apluralist approach. Possible routes of that can help to enrichteaching and curricula are: (1) teaching the art of economicpolicy; (2) stress teaching economics by learning from the past;(3) teach by becoming imperialist so that a conversationbetween discipline gets underway; (4) merge business andgeneral economics as the dividing line between the two isnowadays quite thin; (5) practice Reality Economics; and(6) teach basic principles (especially in the bachelors stage)in a ‘Socratesian’ manner, i.e. let students learn economicsby doing (e.g. by experimental economics or interviewingbusinessmen).