When the global economy crashed in 2008, the list of culprits was long, including dozy regulators, greedy bankers and feckless subprime borrowers. Now the dismal science itself is in the dock, with much soul-searching over why economists failed to predict the financial crisis. One of the outcomes of this debate is that economics students are demanding the reform of a curriculum they think sustains a selfish strain of capitalism and is dominated by abstract mathematics. It looks like the students will get their way. A new curriculum, designed at the University of Oxford, is being tried out. This is good news.
2008年全球經(jīng)濟崩潰時，人們列出了一份長長的“罪犯”名單，愚蠢的監(jiān)管機構(gòu)、貪婪的銀行家和不負責任的次貸借款人都在名單之列。如今，經(jīng)濟學這個乏味的學科自己也被送上被告席，各方對經(jīng)濟學家為何未能預測金融危機的到來進行了許多反思。這場辯論的后果之一是，經(jīng)濟學學生正要求改革教學大綱，他們認為現(xiàn)行教學大綱維系了一種自私的資本主義，而且被抽象的數(shù)學所支配?？瓷先ミ@些學生的愿望會得到滿足。牛津大學(University of Oxford)設(shè)計的一份新教學大綱正在試點。這是好消息。