Did a Harvard economics class cause the financial crisis? Students walk out of lecture that 'has driven inequalities in society'



I t has spread from New York to Europe and as far afield as Mongolia.



And now a new, perhaps unlikely, location has been caught in the Occupy Wall Street crossfire: a Harvard economics class.



Around 70 students walked out of Professor Greg Mankiw's Economics 10 class this week, claiming his teachings have driven the inequalities in today’s society.

Walk out: Around 70 students left an economics class at Harvard University, claiming its curriculum has a one-sided conservative slant

In an open letter, they suggest his conservative curriculum has influenced former Harvard students – including today’s policy makers and bankers – to bring about the financial crisis.

Students had expected a class that included 'a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models'.

'Influence': Students say Professor Greg Mankiw's conservative teachings have driven inequalities in society

But they said the class 'does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, [so] we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics'.

They write: 'We found a course that espouses a specific – and limited – view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.



'We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.'



Prof Mankiw, who advised President George W. Bush and now Mitt Romney, has written two widely used economics textbooks. In one, he called the idea that tax cuts pay for themselves 'fad economics'.



At 700 students, the class has the highest enrollment of any undergraduate course at the university.

Outrage of the 99 per cent: Demonstrations and occupations started in New York and have spread across the globe in protest against corporate greed

The protesters suggested this influence has played a key part in the financial crisis, writing: 'Harvard graduates play major roles in the financial institutions and in shaping public policy around the world.'

According to the Harvard Crimson, Prof Mankiw was aware of the walkout and made announcements at the beginning of class, saying: 'I have a feeling people might leave a little early.'

When the students got up to leave, some of their peers booed.



One of the organisers, Rachel J. Sandalow-Ash, told a crowd outside the classroom: 'Harvard graduates have been complicit [and] have aided many of the worst injustices of recent years.



'Harvard students will not do that anymore. We will use our education for good, and not for personal gain at the expense of millions.'



Protest: In an open letterr, students said the course 'espouses a limited view of economics that perpetuates problematic systems of economic inequality'

The professor, whose textbooks are also studied at Princeton, Yale and Brown, said he taught 'a mainstream economics course' without any political agenda.



Speaking to the Financial Times, he added that he had 'significant respect' for the protestor’s activism.