CORE Econ: a Neoclassical Synthesis for the twenty-first century?

This paper provides a critical review of CORE Econ’s The Economy and associated materials. It argues that there is a need for reworked economics textbooks and that CORE Econ’s approach to this project – to replace mathematical abstractions with relevant real-world economics and to overcome the free market bias of introductory economics course – is well-founded. It is argued that The Economy contains a wealth of material which, in the hands of a sophisticated teacher, could form the basis of excellent introductory and intermediate economics modules. Despite this, however, the paper argues that the newly charted path through the economics discipline – using game theory and market imperfections as the entry point – is not easy to traverse. The demotion of Marshallian supply and demand is welcome and overdue, but its replacement is not yet fully formed. The CORE Econ authors’ claim that they present a unified model in which microeconomics and macroeconomics are coherently integrated – a new Neoclassical Synthesis – is overstated. In particular, the paper argues that students who do not have substantial access to tutoring and mentoring will find the text hard. Those students with only limited guidance and support – due to large cohorts, outside commitments or other reasons – are likely to struggle to learn directly from the text. For this reason, The Economy may favour stronger students and elite institutions over those further down the academic hierarchy. Most fundamentally, it is argued, the issues that surface in The Economy go beyond the specific implementation of a textbook, and reflect problems with the discipline itself. The Economy reflects the view that all economic problems can ultimately be understood in terms of individual optimisation. This assumption is highly controversial. A deeper rethink of how we teach undergraduates in economics is needed.