Shawn Fredericks
The College of the Humanities and Social Sciences is home to 50 different majors. But there is one missing: economics. Economics, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is a “social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.” However, this has changed as noted by Jeffrey Miron, professor and director of Undergraduate Studies at Harvard University, in the 2017-2018 student handbook description of the economics major.
“Traditionally, economics has focused on understanding prices, competitive markets, and the interactions between markets,” states Miron. “Important topics such as monopolies and antitrust, income inequality, economic growth, and the business cycle continue to be central areas of inquiry in economics.” Essentially, traditional economics has kept a strong focus thus far on the “goods and services” side of things.
“Recently though,” Miron continues, “the subject matter of economics has broadened so that economists today address a remarkable variety of social science questions; Will school vouchers improve the quality of education? Do politicians manipulate the business cycle? What sort of legal regime best promotes economic development? Why do cities have ghettos? What can be done about grade inflation? Why do people procrastinate in saving for retirement — or in doing their homework?
This context in mind, economics needs to be in CHASS so that our university can educate a generation of young minds to investigate and explore these questions. CHASS is the home of the social sciences and where economics belongs; it’s through CHASS only that the economics major can expand to incorporate and interact with concepts from the humanities.
The economics curriculum at NC State needs to expand to incorporate more concepts coming from the humanities, especially from disciplines like women’s studies, philosophy, psychology, history and so on. This can only be accomplished by incorporating economics into CHASS so that it can encompass these concepts by being in close proximity of these schools of thought.
The current Bachelor of Arts in economics in the Poole College of Management is a liberal arts degree. Nonetheless, there is still not enough cross-discipline interaction with economics and humanities and social sciences at NC State. When looking at the courses offered by the economics department, they are fairly standard. The courses offered in economics are traditional offerings, not groundbreaking courses by any stretch of the imagination. Courses offered tackle things like environmental economics, capitalism, health economics etc.
These are all pretty standard offerings; however, the issue is that these courses do not touch on subjects like the history of economics, philosophy and economics or crime and economics. These prevalent topics are not explored in the current curriculum and I doubt they will be as long as economics is in the Poole College of Management.
Looking at other schools, such as our supposed “rival” UNC-Chapel Hill, their economics curriculum offers much more variety and multiplicity in discipline interactions. UNC-CH’s economics department offers courses in Gender and Economics, Introduction to Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Social Ventures, Economic History of Western Europe and more.
Duke University, an astounding institution of higher education, also has expansive economics department offering courses NC State dreams it could offer. Offering such interesting courses such as Environmental Justice: The Economics of Race, Place, and Pollution; Economy, Society, and Morality in Eighteenth-Century Thought; Philosophical and Conceptual Problems of Entrepreneurship and more.
Now, if it sounds like I am advertising or trying to sell you on the UNC-CH or Duke economics departments, I am not; I am highlighting a disparity between what topics their departments approach in comparison to ours. The disparity is vast between the dialogue between the humanities and social sciences and the economics on our campus, which means our students are not being properly prepared to tackle topics related to social science.
Economics as a discipline can explore and engage with humanities and the social sciences unlike any other discipline within the social sciences. The way an economist views the world is unique, and that type of thinking is needed in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Other campuses within the Research Triangle have already recognized this and have their students engaging in material that will better prepare them for challenges of tomorrow.
NC State needs to be grooming the next generation of leaders to tackle very important and wicked problems in our society. For that reason, I want economics in CHASS so NC State can be a leader in higher education by empowering its students with the knowledge to be able to address these problems.
The problems of today and the future will not be solved by one discipline, but from the incorporation of a multitude of disciplinary perspectives. When these perspectives come together, insights and solutions never thought of before can be realized. These efforts would lead to a better world, but first they need to be able to come together; that is why economics must come home to CHASS.