Future of economics department uncertain
John Tierney
Issue date: 9/11/09

The College of Arts and Letters plans to discontinue one of its two economic
departments in the next two years, according to College Dean John McGreevy.

In the future, McGreevy said there will not be two economics departments in
the College of Arts and Letters. Currently, the College houses the
Department of Economics and Policy Studies and the Department of Economics
and Econometrics.

McGreevy said any action he takes will ensure that the voices of the
Economics and Policy Studies professors continue to be heard.

"We're trying to create the best economics conversation we can have at Notre
Dame," McGreevy said. "There are lots of places around the University where
we need economists," including at the Kellogg Institute, the Kroc Institute
and the Poverty Studies program.

He said the University has not made a final decision on what to do with the
Department of Economics and Policy Studies, but that there will not be two
departments in the future.

"What I've said in a meeting with both departments is that two departments
is not the best strategy long-term," he said.

The Department of Economics and Policy Studies was the primary economics
department at the University until the creation of the Department of
Economics and Econometrics in 2003, according to Professor of Economics and
Policy Studies David Ruccio.

"The University decided in 2003 to create another economics department,"
Ruccio said. "The majority of people in the existing department voted
against the idea and the College Council voted against the idea.

"The people who wanted to create a new department went to the Academic
Council and got a positive vote," Ruccio said.

Of the 21 economics faculty members in 2003, 16 voted against the split and
five voted in favor, according to Ruccio. The five members who supported the
split went to the Department of Economics and Econometrics, which supports
only neoclassical economic theory.

The 16 members who voted against the creation of a new department remained
in the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, whose mission statement
is to teach and conduct research in "a distinctive way" that is "related to
the Catholic identity of the University."

"Economics and Policy Studies has a more open or pluralistic approach to
economics so lots of different theories are taught and used in research,"
Ruccio said.

He said this pluralistic approach is especially valuable in the current
economic crisis, when the neoclassical approach "has been most called into
question."

Ruccio said he believes his department "is going to be dissolved over the
course of the next two years."

Ruccio said that the different approach of the Department of Economics and
Policy Studies helps "make Notre Dame distinctive."

"Lots of universities only teach neoclassical economics," he said.

Notre Dame is different "partly because of the Catholic tradition of social
justice."

"Now students will only get one approach and that's a shame," Ruccio said.

Without the Department of Economics and Policy Studies, "there won't be a
department that would be devoted to a conversation rather than a monologue
on campus," Ruccio said.

Students are less likely to be exposed "to a variety of different theories,
when the department no longer exists," he said.

"That's especially true if Economics and Econometrics teaches all the intro
courses," he said.

Ruccio said the need for different approaches in economics stems from the
concept of the liberal arts education.

In a liberal arts education, "students are exposed to critical thinking and
the only way to do critical thinking is to be exposed to a variety of
approaches," he said.

McGreevy said that moves to other roles in the University could allow
Economics and Policy Studies professors to have a larger impact.

"Our colleagues in Economics and Policy Studies have much expertise," he
said. "We're asking where in the University they can have the most impact."

McGreevy said the tenure of Economics and Policy Studies professors will be
respected.

"We can't be fired," Ruccio said. "But from what we've heard, we have been
encouraged to find another position either inside the University or outside
the University."






------------------------------------------------------
Provided by Australis
http://www.australis.com.au/