IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ctl/louvir/2021023.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What do we teach in Macroeconomics? Evidence of a theoretical divide

Author

Listed:
  • François Courtoy

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

  • Michel de Vroey

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

  • Riccardo Turati

    (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona)

Abstract

This paper studies the way in which macroeconomics is taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Based on two sources of information, the world’s largest network of library content and services, the WorldCat data base, and a survey of the textbooks used for teaching at leading universities across the world, the paper provides an up-to-date description of macroeconomics teaching. Our results show a clear methodological divide: whereas IS-LM/AS-AD modeling is the theoretical core of undergraduate textbooks, graduate ones have the RBC model as their baseline model.

Suggested Citation

  • François Courtoy & Michel de Vroey & Riccardo Turati, 2021. "What do we teach in Macroeconomics? Evidence of a theoretical divide," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021023, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2021023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2021023(03).pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. De Vroey,Michel, 2016. "A History of Macroeconomics from Keynes to Lucas and Beyond," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107584945.
    2. Manfred Gärtner & Björn Griesbach & Florian Jung, 2013. "Teaching Macroeconomics After the Crisis: A Survey Among Undergraduate Instructors in Europe and the United States," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 406-416, October.
    3. N. Gregory Mankiw, 2020. "Reflections of a Textbook Author," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 215-228, March.
    4. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad & John J. Siegfried, 2015. "Research on Teaching Economics to Undergraduates," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 285-325, June.
    5. Hoover, Kevin D, 1984. "Two Types of Monetarism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 58-76, March.
    6. Pedro de Araujo & Roisin O’Sullivan & Nicole B. Simpson, 2013. "What Should be Taught in Intermediate Macroeconomics?," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 74-90, March.
    7. Michel de Vroey, 2018. "The History of Recent Macroeconomics Through the Lens of the Marshall-Walras Divide," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2018018, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    8. repec:fth:harver:1470 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Mankiw, N Gregory, 1990. "A Quick Refresher Course in Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 1645-1660, December.
    10. Ragnar Frisch, 1950. "Alfred Marshall's Theory of Value," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(4), pages 495-524.
    11. Samuel Bowles & Wendy Carlin, 2020. "What Students Learn in Economics 101: Time for a Change," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 176-214, March.
    12. Olivier Blanchard, 2018. "On the future of macroeconomic models," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 34(1-2), pages 43-54.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goutsmedt, Aurélien & Pinzón-Fuchs, Erich & Sergi, Francesco & Renault, Matthieu, 2019. "Reacting to the Lucas Critique: The Keynesians' Replies," OSF Preprints qxh46, Center for Open Science.
    2. Urban, Janina & Rommel, Florian, 2020. "German economics: Its current form and content," Working Paper Series 56, Cusanus Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung, Institut für Ökonomie.
    3. Matthieu Renault, 2018. "Edmond Malinvaud´s Criticisms of the New Classical Economics: Restoring the Nature and the Rationale of the Old Keynesians´ Opposition," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2018_21, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    4. Rommel, Florian & Urban, Janina, 2022. "A Survey of German Economics," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264131, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Martin Guzman & Joseph E Stiglitz, 2020. "Towards a dynamic disequilibrium theory with randomness," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 36(3), pages 621-674.
    6. Romain Plassard, 2019. "From Disequilibrium to Equilibrium Macroeconomics: Barro and Grossman's Trade-off between Rigor and Realism," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-17, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    7. Goutsmedt, Aurélien & Sergi, Francesco & Guizzo, Danielle, 2019. "An Agenda without a Plan: Robert E. Lucas's Trajectory throught the Public Debate," OSF Preprints 7jpa9, Center for Open Science.
    8. Michel De Vroey & Luca Pensieroso, 2021. "Grounded in Methodology, Certified by Journals: The Rise and Evolution of a Mainstream in Economics," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021015, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    9. Saileshsingh Gunessee & Tom Lane, 2020. "Is Economics An Experimental Science? A Textbook Perspective," Discussion Papers 2020-16, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    10. Jane E. Ihrig & Scott A. Wolla, 2020. "Let's Close the Gap: Revising Teaching Materials to Reflect How the Federal Reserve Implements Monetary Policy," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-092, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. Oliver Landmann, 2022. "Stabilization Policy: A Turbulent Journey Through Time," Discussion Paper Series 42, Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg, revised Sep 2022.
    12. Plassard, Romain, 2021. "Barro, Grossman, and the domination of equilibrium macroeconomics," MPRA Paper 107201, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Goutsmedt, Aurélien, 2019. "Macroeconomics at the Crossroads: Stagflation and the Struggle between "Keynesian" and New Classical Macroeconometric Programs," OSF Preprints y364t, Center for Open Science.
    14. Snowdon, Brian & Vane, Howard R., 1996. "The development of modern macroeconomics: Reflections in the light of Johnson's analysis after twenty-five years," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 381-401.
    15. Adnan Haider Bukhari & Safdar Ullah Khan, 2008. "A Small Open Economy DSGE Model for Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 47(4), pages 963-1008.
    16. Acosta, Juan & Cherrier, Beatrice, 2021. "The Transformation Of Economic Analysis At The Board Of Governors Of The Federal Reserve System During The 1960s," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 323-349, September.
    17. Federico Guglielmo Morelli & Michael Benzaquen & Marco Tarzia & Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, 2020. "Confidence collapse in a multihousehold, self-reflexive DSGE model," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(17), pages 9244-9249, April.
    18. Michael R. Hammock & P. Wesley Routon & Jay K. Walker, 2016. "The opinions of economics majors before and after learning economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 76-83, January.
    19. Stern, Nicholas, 2018. "Public economics as if time matters: Climate change and the dynamics of policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 4-17.
    20. KAMKOUM, Arnaud Cedric, 2023. "The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Global Financial Crisis and its Effects: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of the Impact of its Quantitative Easing Programs," Thesis Commons d7pvg, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Macroeconomics; textbooks; IS-LM/AS-AD; RBC;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
    • A23 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Graduate
    • E00 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2021023. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Virginie LEBLANC (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iruclbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.