Alternative models

The Cuomo administration says it is “on track to the rail system of the future,” but but the speediest options — true high-speed rail service — have already been ruled out. The remaining options won’t go all that fast, abandoning the potential benefits that some say true high-speed rail would bring to New York.

Though engaging marketing has shifted consumer preferences on a range of products, people tend to think that preferences for traditional suburban neighborhoods are set in stone. Advertisers say they’re wrong.

U.S. pension funds could play a powerful role in shaping financial markets. But they tend to act more like passive customers than dealmakers.

Economics departments: limited range of courses at the advanced level; reliance on "chalk-and-talk" pedagogy.

Our re-imagining economics education series turns to the questions of how to broaden advanced course offerings and how to go beyond "chalk-and-talk" teaching methods. Could Marx have a place in a traditional Labor Economics course? One TCU professor thinks so. Another suggestion: have students play "math charades" on the first day of class to convey the strengths and weaknesses of a modeling approach.

Critics of status quo identify range of options to transform intro and intermediate curriculum away from current narrow focus.

Economics education in profound conflict with the philosophy of a liberal education. Part 3 of our series.

Though presented to students as "value-free," neoclassical economics is a cheerleader for free markets.