Like Rain on Your Wedding Day
Daniel Davies notices the University of Notre Dame doing a very, very strange thing.
Do you find yourself considering the financial crisis and thinking “well, neoclassical economists have certainly come through this one with their reputations enhanced! Anyone with a world-class heterodox economics department should certainly be thinking about closing it down right now, there’s no interest in that sort of thing!”. Well, if you do, then you’re almost certainly working as an administrator at [The University of Notre Dame].
Ironically, this is proof of one of the primary contentions of heterodox economics: People are not rational actors.
By
Ezra Klein
|
September 24, 2009; 10:40 AM ET
Categories:
Economics
Save & Share:
Previous: The End of the Journal?
Next: Live Chat Today
Posted by: SimonCox | September 24, 2009 11:30 AM | Report abuse
If you disagree with Notre Dame's decision, please sign our petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SaveEconomicsND/index.html/
Posted by: alpelican | September 24, 2009 11:46 AM | Report abuse
For more on the department situation at ND, check out the Open Economics ND blog:
http://openeconomicsnd.wordpress.com/tag/notre-dame
Posted by: nkrafft | September 24, 2009 11:56 AM | Report abuse
I suspect you know no more than I do about the views of ND's heterodox economists, i.e., nothing.
Posted by: ostap666 | September 24, 2009 12:16 PM | Report abuse
Although I agree that "people are not rational actors", if we take that in its strictest sense, it mainly proves that academics at the N.D. economics department meet or exceed the standard of academics in most universities -- an environment of petty bickering, back-biting, jealousy, and power struggles.
Posted by: enoriverbend | September 24, 2009 1:09 PM | Report abuse
One of the most important features about a liberal arts education is that it intends for the world to become understandable, so that “No longer unexpected and strange things appear dazzling or confusing” (such as last fall’s economic crash).
Ironically, after the recent announcement regarding the closure of the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, the Dean of the Department of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame is currently holding discussions with faculty members to discuss a “surprising” issue: apparently there doesn’t seem to be a pervasive culture of intellectual life at Notre Dame.
Posted by: belen_mp | September 24, 2009 1:26 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
Excellent title.