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Did we get it?
In his first address to Congress and the nation at large, President Obama laid out his economic recovery plan. While the nation is busy debating its efficacy, it's worth asking: How much of it did we actually understand? The President may not have delved into the complexities of asset-backed mortgage securities, but the entire first half of his speech was devoted to the basics of economics -- a subject about which Americans know little and which our leading universities almost never require. Indeed, as we discovered in our survey of a 100 leading universities, only one -- the University of Alaska in Fairbanks -- has an economics requirement.
The current crisis offers the perfect opportunity for universities to recognize the importance of economics and make sure that the voters -- and leaders -- of tomorrow are able to make sense of a complex world and respond to future challenges.
Posted by David Azerrad on February 26, 2009 at February 26, 2009 09:31 AM
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Comments
The University of Alaska in Fairbanks is currently revising our core requirements. The information that we are the only university in our peer group to require economics will no doubt be grounds for eliminating the requirement in favor of something in liberal arts which is more enrollment-challenged :-( (Disclaimer: I am a faculty member in the School of Management and occasionally teach the required economics course).
Posted by: John Lehman at March 11, 2009 09:20 PM