2025/05/04 by Peter E. Earl · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Economic Theory and Institutions #Innovations in Educational Methods #University Challenges and Reforms
paper · doi:10.1080/10370196.2025.2582307
openalex publication_date 2025/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/12/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
The author explains how the process of studying for a B.A. in Economics worked at the University of Cambridge when he was an undergraduate there in the period 1974-1977. This was close to the end of the time in which the Cambridge Economics Tripos was taught in a highly pluralistic manner. The teaching system involved much less choice than a typical economics degree does today, and honours classes depended entirely on performance in examinations. Reading mainly consisted of primary sources, with little use of textbooks. Assignments were typically open-ended essay tasks rather than deterministic ‘problem set’ exercises. Examples of reading material and essay topics are used to show that there was a strong history of economic thought perspective in the teaching process, particularly with macroeconomics, which covered the development of thinking from Keynes’s time through to the then-current ideas of the Cambridge Economic Policy Group.