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Teaching with Historical Perspectives: The Case of Development Economics

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Post-Crash Economics

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Abstract

This chapter presents a specific example of how a popular theme in Development Economics, namely sharecropping, can be taught by using a historical perspective. This approach allows the lecturer to move beyond the static categorisations of standard textbooks and provides a pluralistic approach to teaching that is historically framed with respect to both the contextualisation of the phenomenon under investigation and the exposure to how various systems of economic thought have looked at those phenomena and sets of variables throughout history. This brings a new method of teaching and learning, exposing students to the intellectual experience of analysing different schools of thought by showing them their historical contextualisation and evolution.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This is the case, for example, of the Debt Deflation Theory (Fisher, 1933) and of the New Development Economics (Stiglitz, 1986), just to name a couple.

  2. 2.

    There is an extensive literature about the subject. (Examples are Becker, 2007; Colander, 2001; Earl, 2000; Feiner & Roberts, 1995; Feiner, 2003; Ferber, 1999; Fullbrook, 2003; Knoedler & Underwood, 2003; O’Donnell, 2009; Moseley, Gunn, & Georges, 1991; Underwood, 2004.)

  3. 3.

    To be sure students are also invited to reflect upon the difference between economic theory and rhetoric. The fact that the main representative of the post-Washington Consensus, Stiglitz, was fired from the World Bank because he was in disagreement with the Washington Consensus should not discourage students from undertaking a critical appraisal of the two schools of thought and to compare them from alternative perspectives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University, London, UK

    Daniela Tavasci

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  1. Daniela Tavasci
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economic Studies, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom

    Omar Feraboli

  2. Department of Economic Studies, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom

    Carlo J. Morelli

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Tavasci, D. (2018). Teaching with Historical Perspectives: The Case of Development Economics. In: Feraboli, O., Morelli, C. (eds) Post-Crash Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65855-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65855-1_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65854-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65855-1

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