目次

先生たちへ

『経済』の教え方、学び方はいろいろある。

　『経済』は中学校から大学院まで様々な環境で、実際の教育現場で試用されてきた。CORE教材の様々な使い方については www.core-econ.orgを参照してほしい。

柔軟性を重視した構成

　この教科書をきわめて柔軟で適応性の高いものにしている特徴はいくつかある。

重要項目章

　第17章から22章は、講義の最後にまとめて独立した章として教えてもいいので、学生が特に興味を持っている分野や先生が得意な分野に追加の時間を割けるようにしてある。この重要項目章の内容は、教科書のあちこちですでに触れられている(多くの場合、第1章から出てくる)。重要項目章は それまでの章で開発した概念的、実証的なツールを使っているから、重要項目同士は独立していても、それまでの章が一通り終わっていないと教えられない。

基本概念の累積的な学習

1-16章は概念やツールを累積的に学べるようになっている。

色分けテーマ

　重要項目章の主題は、全22章のすべてに登場するので、どれか特定の重要項目に集中したい先生は、目次から自分の生徒にとって特に関係のある部分をすぐに見つけられる。

Themes and capstone units

COREの『経済』が他とどうちがうか

　この教材は、経済についての世界中、歴史からの証拠に注目する。質問主導になっている——見られる現象をどう説明するか、ということだ。手法としては、おもしろい質問を最初に尋ねて、それからその回答に役立つモデルを導入することになる。制約つき最適化のような手法は、それが現実世界の問題に対する洞察をもたらすことを示すことで教える。学問としての経済学派、制度が重要となる社会、政治、倫理的な文脈に置かれる。

　CORE は生徒たちに経済学者になることを教える:

図 A は、この教科書を他の標準的な経済学入門教科書と比べることで、その構造を理解してもらおうとしたものだ。

標準的な経済学入門教科書 COREの『経済』
第1部. 経済学とは何か 第1章. 経済についての大きな問題
第2部. 需要と供給 第2–3章. 経済的な意思決定
第3部. 生産判断と要素市場 第4–6章. 経済的な関係と相互作用
第4部. 完全競争を超えて 第7–10章. 市場
第5部. ミクロ経済学と公共政策 第11–12章. 市場の力学、市場の仕組みとその限界
第6部. 長期の成長 第13–15章. 短期・中期のマクロ経済
第7部. 短期の変動と安定化政策 第16章. 長期のマクロ経済
第8部. マクロ経済的な応用 重要項目章 17–22

図 A 標準的な経済学入門教科書と『経済』を比べる

　図Aの右手と左手の8つの部分をもっと細かく見て、それぞれの章の中心的な概念をまとめよう。

Options for course structure

This book has been the basis of many different types of course. On our website, you can find case studies from instructors who have adapted The Economy to specific needs.

A first course (one year)

The Economy can be taught as a year-long first course in economics, as has been done with earlier versions of this material at University College London (UCL), Birkbeck, University of London, Azim Premji University (Bangalore), and elsewhere. A typical year-long course would teach the first 16 units and conclude with anything from one to all of the capstone units (devoting two or more weeks to each, if time allows). Spending three or four weeks on one of the capstones is an opportunity to bring in additional materials, student research or reports.

An introduction to microeconomics (one semester)

The Toulouse School of Economics and the Lahore University of Management Sciences use The Economy as its introduction to microeconomics. This course might teach Unit 1 and Units 3 to 12, with the remaining weeks of the course devoted to a combination of Unit 2 with capstone Unit 21, or capstone Units 17 to 20.

An introduction to macroeconomics (one semester)

A one-semester introduction to macroeconomics based on the CORE text has been taught at Sciences Po, Paris and Middlebury College, Vermont, US. A possible configuration of such a course is Units 1 and 2; review of feasible set and indifference curves from Unit 3; 6 (wage-setting); 7 (price-setting); 9 and 10, and 13 to 17, plus a selection of capstone Units 18–22, possibly including the material on disequilibrium dynamics from Unit 11.

Introduction to economics (one semester)

A course along these lines has been taught at Humboldt University (Berlin), University of Sydney, and University of Bristol. Providing the basic concepts of the discipline in a single semester is a challenge but it can be done (in 14 weeks) using Units 1, 3 to 10, plus 12 to 16, ending the course with Unit 17 (an application of macroeconomics) or one of the other capstone units, stressing microeconomic applications.

Masters courses in public policy

This text has been used at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, the School of Public Policy at the Central European University, and the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, among others. The courses have implemented variants of the above course structures, making use of the depth of coverage of policy problems in the capstone units.

Secondary school courses

Schools including St Paul’s School, London and Melville Senior High School, Western Australia have used parts of the text for extension activities for upper-level students.

Options for pedagogy

The Economy also facilitates a range of teaching approaches, in line with recent developments in pedagogic methods.

Traditional teaching

The material can be taught in a traditional way, with the substantive theory in each unit delivered through lectures, and reinforced and elaborated in classes with problems and exercises.

Classroom games and experiments

The empirical emphasis of much of the material in The Economy, and the extensive embedding of game theory, encourage a more active approach to student learning through the use of classroom games and experiments, and problem-oriented learning using real data. Datasets and ideas for classroom games are provided on the Instructors’ part of our website, to help teachers incorporate these methods in their teaching.

Flipping the classroom

Active classroom learning can be encouraged by the selective use of ‘flipped’ or ‘inverted’ approaches, in which traditional lectures are replaced by interactive sessions based on problems, games or discussions. In these teaching approaches, students are assigned material (readings, quizzes, or videos, for example) before class, which is then used as a basis for discussion and activity in the classes. Classroom polling software (or student response systems) can be used to test students’ engagement with the assigned tasks through quizzes, and games and data work can then be used to deepen understanding and reinforce this understanding. The Economy lends itself well to this approach, because units progress from real case studies and narratives to the selection and use of appropriate theoretical tools for understanding these case studies, and then to the detailed underlying theory.

One approach to flipping the classroom is to encourage students to read the narratives and historical case studies outside class, and to think about the economic tools that can help explain these cases. The detailed use and understanding of the theory can then be developed within the class by the use of problem-oriented data work and classroom games. Experience in many classrooms with the beta versions of The Economy suggests that students engage more readily in pre-class reading of the interactive ebook than in previous introductory courses. The habit of reading ahead of class can be kick-started with a multimedia group project used in several CORE pilot universities.