Today was the first day of my new EconoBlogging course here at Ohio University. A little background to get everyone up to speed...
I recently was awarded a University Professorship, which is a University-wide award for teaching excellence as determined by students. Every University Professor gets the opportunity to teach the "course of their dreams" and I thought a course that examined the many different economics blogs would be interesting.
We will initially take a look at a recent book by my colleague Harold Winter entitled Trade-Offs: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning and Social Issues. This is one of the best introductions to the so-called "economic way of thinking" I have encountered and has also been favorably reviewed by bloggers.
I also mentioned to students that one of my main fields of expertise in graduate school at Florida State University was Public Choice (click here for an accessible introduction). I studied under the fine tutelage of Randy Holcombe and Bruce Benson, so I have a fairly good understanding of the issues involved. I also happen to think that examining the political economy of issues can be illuminating in its own right.
I hope that everyone finds the course interesting and that those of you who are not enrolled find it equally interesting as well. Comments will be open and I encourage the fruitful exchange of ideas.
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5 comments:
This course is a fantastic idea! What year student is it aimed at? Did you have any trouble getting it past the various approval committees?
Actually, the University Professor award allows recipients to teach their "dream course" without any strings attached. The courses are pre-approved as an incentive to reward good teaching.
The course is junior/senior and the only prerequisite is Principles of Microeconomics...and actually, all of the students are journalism majors which I find exciting!
Thanks for your interest!
Do the econobloggers have to be economists? Or does covering economics in your blog on a regular basis make you an econoblogger? What qualifies you? I have a Ph.D. in the Humanities, and I blog -- does that make me a humaniblogger?
Dr. t,
I think anyone can call themselves a blogger and that one's reputation is based in part on the type of analysis one produces.
I am an Associate Professor of Economics at a large state university with a decent publication record...I think this qualifies me :)
And I think humaniblogger would be a good name for a blog!
Well, I opted for Interdisciplinary World instead. With my Ph.D. in the Humanities, M.A. in English, and B.A. in Recombinant Gene Technology, and publications ranging from an article on the application of game theory to the study of literature to an article on the nature of interdisciplinarity for the International Society for the Study of time and the publication of poems and short stories, it seemed an appropriate title. The contents of the blog also bear this out. :-)
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