"Teaching Amidst a Crisis" - A Personal Experience

We at anti-mankiw have recently blogged about how one might incorporate pluralist teaching tools in economics. The introductory paragraph links to a blog post by Prof. Mankiw posted in 2009 basically outlining how he believes introductory econ texts should remain status quo - which by definition, means that he believes nothing new has been learned from the crisis that students should know about.

I thought I'd relate my personal teaching experience to expand upon the anti-mankiw post at a more personal level.

First, I don't use Mankiw's textbooks to teach my intro macroeconomics class. I did - once upon a time - just before the financial meltdown. Then that event happened, and I, having been already fairly heavily exposed and interested in heterodox concepts outside of the classroom decided that I would be doing my students a disservice by continuing to teach from a textbook written by an author who is so blindly and ideologically biased.

Deciding on a main textbook to use is actually a fairly daunting and complicated process though. There exists imop no textbook that incorporates pluralist/heterodox concepts in a student-friendly way where I could use just one textbook. There are good heterodox publications, but they are devoid of pictures, and/or obviously published on a severe budget-constraint: the sorts of books that only the most dedicated students could sink their teeth into. I teach a night class so most of my students have full-time jobs - so I need a text that is going to be formatted and written in an inviting way. So, years ago I decided the best way to teach my students was to find a mainstream textbook that did not have the same philosophy as Mankiw - published by someone who learned something from the finanaical crisis - who thinks current events are useful learning and teaching moments. And, I would use free-of-charge supplemental materials from various other sources, to create 'heterodox modules' to teach along-side the mainstream text.

The mainstream text I use today is Robert Hall and Marc Lieberman's Principles text. Why do I like it so much better than Mankiw's text (note: I have no loyalties to this text, so if anyone has any other options, I'm constantly re-evaluating)? Because every other chapter has been expanded with new topics since the crisis: interest rate spreads, ARRA stimulus, 'too big to fail', unorthodox monetary policy, housing market as it relates to macro, etc. These authors, while still thoroughly mainstream and therefore missing huge chunks of true economic thought, at least learned that their previous edition was missing something crucial, and in some cases included unfortunate assumptions that they incorrectly assumed to be simplifying ones.

Here's my favorite example. In their 4th edition, Hall and Lieberman say the following in the 'money' chapter:

Fortunately the details and complexities of measuring money are not important for a basic understanding of the monetary system and monetary policy.

I always hated that quote. Sounds very Mankiwian doesn't it. But then, in the fifth edition published in 2010, that quote vanishes. Makes me smile.

As mentioned, I use numerous supplemental materials in my class - which is helpful to engage different kinds of students. I also use supplemental portions of a heterodox text and the aforementioned main text. It of course has its drawbacks as, ideally, I'd like to use just one text. In some cases, students have to read duplicated concepts - parts where the mainstream text and the heterodox supplements overlap. But to me it's worth it. For one, I feel better about myself because I feel I'm being academically honest. And two, many students really get it. And when I say get it, I mean they graduate my class less like neo-classical robots and more like well-rounded, well-educated individuals.