Rethinking the Role of Banks in Economics Education
Join the campaign 27th October – 2nd November
A campaign to challenge the current teaching of the role of bank in our economics and business courses is being launched by Rethinking Economics UK.
Banks play a major role in our economy, yet we know that in economics courses the teaching around the role of banks in the economy, and in the creation of money, often isn’t based on empirical evidence. Neither does teaching draw on a plurality of perspectives to encourage critical assessment of banks’ functions.
What is the campaign?
Since April, students frustrated with the misleading curriculum on banks they are receiving have come together to address this issue. We’re inviting Rethinkers across our network to join us in calling on our universities to stop teaching us out-dated models and start teaching us how banks actually work.
How can we expect economists to analyse the economy when they don’t know how banks run? We’re asking you to join us in submitting letters to your university departments that call for a critical reflection on the current teaching of the role of banks. We will be doing a mass submission of letters from across the RE network in the week 27th October – 2nd November. Rethinking Economics International has also started gaining support for the campaign and will be publishing an open letter, signed by economists, civil society organisations and influential thinkers.
The Campaign Pack
Attached in this message is a campaign pack, which has all the information for the campaign and the ambitions for it. The pack was put together by a steering group made up of students from across the Rethinking Economics network, as well as allies from Positive Money and Finance Watch. It shows the different ways in which you can get involved with the campaign, as well as loads of resources to assist you in running events, understanding the financial sector and in preparing for discussions with your economics departments. We hope that you will get involved with this international campaign, by submitting letters to your universities, signing the open letter with your group name and taking part in some actions.
Communications
There is a dedicated Slack channel (*#rethinkbanks*) where you can get support and discuss issues with other students in the network. Just let us know by emailing campaigns@rethinkeconomics.org and we can add you to it. There’ll also be a support call, where you can bring any questions, ideas or challenges for the campaign, on 2nd October at 16:00 UTC. Join via the link: https://zoom.us/j/326922173.
Click on this link to download a Word version of the campaign pack .
Click here for a sample letter from students at the University of Maastricht.
Our understanding of banks’ function isn’t just important for our own education, it also has wide-ranging effects on the real economy. When we take on jobs as economists, we take our education with us, so it is important that what we are taught is based in the real world and gives us the tools to make well-informed decisions.
Let’s rethink the role of banks in our economics education!