The Report

“It is time to rethink some of the basic building blocks of economics”. These are the words of Andrew Haldane, Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, in his foreword to this report. Economics is in crisis. The profession is under attack from the media, employers and the general public. The economists we are producing are not performing the tasks society demands from them. The Financial Crisis is the obvious example of the current problem but by no means the only one. Worries about climate change are escalating to crisis levels. Massive wealth inequality is creating a backlash from think tanks, journalists and academics alike. Unemployment in Europe and beyond is motivating ordinary people to demand answers from the powers-that-be; the powers-that-be then continually defer to economists to provide these answers.

Economics, Education and Unlearning looks at what we, PCES, believe to be the problem; economics education. If economics education isn’t fit for purpose, it will not produce the skilled economists we need and society will suffer as a result. A rethink of the discipline is required or else failures in economics, such as the Financial Crisis, will inevitably be repeated. The support of Andrew Haldane, demonstrates how important this issue is to those who run our economy. We also enjoy the support of prominent economists from across the political spectrum including Lord Robert Skidelsky, Ha-Joon Chang and Stephen Davies. The push for change within economics is gaining momentum. Articles published about PCES in the Guardian were in their top 5 most read articles of the day and received up to 17,000 shares on Facebook, as well as starting a debate on the blogosphere that reached as far as Paul Krugman. We have since been discussed by the Financial Times, the Economist, the Times, the Washington Post and the BBC among other organisations. This report marks the next step in a debate about economics education that has caught the public imagination.