Last Wednesday, 70 Harvard students walked out of an introductory economics course, citing a bias that they said “perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society.”
The walkout, first reported by the Harvard Crimson, was the subject of an open letter to the professor who teaches the course, Greg Mankiw. The letter, which appeared in the Harvard Political Review, says Mankiw’s class espouses a “limited” view of economics–heavy on Adam Smith, less so on Keynesian theory–that “fails to equip its students with a broad and critical understanding of economics.” It read in part:
“We are walking out today to join a Boston-wide march protesting the corporatization of higher education as part of the global Occupy [Wall Street] movement. Since the biased nature of Economics 10 contributes to and symbolizes the increasing economic inequality in America, we are walking out of your class today both to protest your inadequate discussion of basic economic theory and to lend our support to a movement that is changing American discourse on economic injustice.”
Mankiw, who served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the second Bush Administration and is currently an adviser to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, declined to comment for the Crimson article, but discussed the issues raised by the protest with NPR’s Steve Inskeep. Mankiw, who in his blog describes himself as “comfortably in the top 1 percent,” told NPR that he lectures frequently on the growing wealth gap.
“There’s no question that the gap between rich and poor has risen substantially. It’s been a long term trend since the 1970s, with pretty steady increases,” he said. “And I lecture about this every year. It was a pure coincidence that I was lecturing on this topic the very day they decided to walk out.”
Read the full article: Harvard Students, Citing Economic Inequality, Stage Walkout