In [3948] there was a translation (courtesy of Riccardo and Joseph Halevi) of the "Open Letter from Economic Students" (reproduced below). That was over a year ago -- what has happened since? Is there anything that we should and can do _as a group_ to express solidarity with these students? In solidarity, Jerry --------------------------------------------------------------- translation of : Lettre ouverte des étudiants en économie aux professeurs et responsables de l'enseignement de cette discipline Open Letter from Economics Students to Their Professors and to Those Responsible for Teaching this Discipline As students of economics in French universities, we generally declare that we are unhappy with the education we are receiving. And this is so for the following reasons: 1) Let's leave these imaginary worlds! Most of us have chosen economics in order to acquire a profound knowledge of the economic phenomena with which today's citizen is confronted. However, the teaching, as it happens to be taught, is normally that of neo-classical economics or of its close by-products and does not fulfill our expectations. In effect, if the theory detaches itself firstly, from its contingencies, it rarely makes the necessary return to the facts: the empirical part (history of facts, functioning of institutions, study of the behaviour and the strategy of agentsŠ) is practically non-existent. Besides, the time lapse between what we are taught and concrete realities necessarily poses an adaptation problem for those who would like to make themselves useful to social and economic actors. 2) No to the uncontrolled use of mathematics! The instrumental use of math seems necessary. However, recourse to the formalisation of mathematics, when it is no longer an instrument, but an end in and of itself, leads to a veritable schizophrenia with regard to the real world. The formalisation lets us, on the contrary, easily construct exercises, activate models where what is important is to find the 'right' answer (that is to say, the logical result of the initial hypotheses) in order to hand in clean work. This facilitates notation and selection, under the auspices of scientificity, but never answers the questions we pose on contemporary economic debates. 3) For a pluralism of approaches in economics! Too often, lecture courses do not leave room for reflection. Among all the existing approaches, we are presented but one, and it is supposed to explain everything following a purely axiomatic process, as if it constituted THE economic truth. We do not accept this dogmatism. We want a plurality of explanations, adapted to the complexity of objects and to the uncertainty that overshadows most of the big questions in economics (unemployment, inequalities, role of finance, advantages and inconveniences of free-trade, etc.) 4) Call to teachers: Wake up before it is too late! We know very well that our professors are themselves held by certain constraints. We do however call upon you for your support, because you understand our claims and because we would like to see a change. If one does not occur soon, the risk is too great that a huge number of students, who have already started to retreat from the discipline, massively desert this line of inquiry which has become uninteresting, because it is cut off from reality and today's world. We no longer want to pretend to be studying this autistic science that is being pushed on us. We are not asking for the impossible, but only what good sense can suggest to each and every one of us. We hope therefore, to be heard in the very near future. started May 2000 as of July 5th, 2000, 500 signatures from (ENS Ulm, Cachan et Fontenay, ENSAE, EHESS, Paris X-Nanterre, Paris I, Paris Tolbiac, Versailles Saint-Quentin, Orlé Grenoble, Rennes, Clermond-Ferrand, Aix-Marseille, Besanç Hamburg, Florence, London, Barcelona,...) To sign the open letter send surname, given name, place of study, level, and address to: autisme-economie@caramail.com original may be found at http://www.respublica.fr/autisme-economie/lettre-ouverte.htm
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