Radical economists cannot get teaching positions at those universities respected or otherwise if there is no demand for them. The demand itself is always created by the general political and cultural mood. Sometimes, certain segments of society signal/provoke those "mood" swings, e.g. youngsters in the 60's and the landless peasants in contemporary Brazil, etc. I think, what happened in the US universities (as I was told by American friends) in the 60's is one concrete illustration of this connection between academia and society at large, i.e. radicals "infiltrated" to all kind of programs throughout, including economics departments: Marglin of Harvard, Harris of Stanford, Foley of Barnard/Columbia, etc.
Am I making sense as an outsider--as another Turk? Ahmet Tonak ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sabri Oncu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 1:30 AM Subject: Re: college students again and a question > > Many of the students seemed convinced that > > neoclassical economics was an inadequate tool > > for analyzing production and distribution. > > But several of them wanted to know why it was > > so popular and dominant in the schools. Why > > weren't most students presented with alternatives? > > What would pen'lers have told them? > > > > Michael Yates > > Hi Michael, > > Once on PEN-L I claimed that one of the reasons for > that was that most of the economists on PEN-L, as well > as others like them, had not resisted hard enough to > keep their rightful places at the "respected" > universities. Whether we like it or not, it is at > these "respected" universities that one can outshout > the others. Those who outshouted the alternative views > did that from their posts at these "respected" > universities. > > Whether PEN-Lers and others like them had any chance > to find a place at such universities is a question to > which I am not qualified to provide an answer. I > simply do not have enough information to do that. > > But it is my belief that it is time for those who have > the knowledge and ability to present alternative views > to reclaim their rightful places at these "respected" > universities. > > Otherwise, they will continue to be outshouted or so I > believe. > > Sabri >
