Economic Diversity
Yesterday’s unexamined faith has become today’s heresy, and yesterday’s heresy is now the new superstition.
—Amartya K. Sen (2000)
For over 30 years, the Department of Economics & Policy Studies (formerly known as the Department of Economics) has been a community of scholars and teachers who share a goal of offering diverse perspectives for a wide variety of audiences to help solve the economic and social problems facing humanity. We believe this goal can best be achieved by:
- pursuing research with a broad array of theoretical and methodological approaches
- teaching undergraduate and graduate courses that creatively blend ethical concerns and an understanding of real world institutions, recall lessons from the history and philosophy of economic thought, and apply theory in empirical investigations of policy alternatives
- engaging in dedicated service inside and beyond the academy
The success of our endeavors depends on a combination of disciplinary expertise and interdisciplinary partnerships. ECOP’s pioneering approach sees research, education, and service as complementary activities in providing a forum wherein professors, students, policymakers, and activists will be able to understand the usefulness of diverse approaches to economics for finding solutions to multifaceted domestic and global issues.
