We are pleased to share that Professor Madhavi Venkatesan has published a new chapter titled “The Contribution of University Economics Teaching to Sustainability” in North American and European Perspectives on Sustainability in Higher Education (W. L. Filho et al., eds.), part of the World Sustainability Series.
Abstract
The present economic framework has been in universal existence for less than 80 years. During this time the assumptions related to consumer and firm behavior have been endogenized and also legitimized as societal norms. Further, the assumptions of self-gratification and profit maximization are reinforced as default behavior by way of the teaching of economics, contributing to the perception of greed and competitiveness as more indicative of the natural state of human behavior than cooperation and distributional equity. Of significance, competition has prompted externalization of costs, with regulation often being a lower threshold constraint than the operationalization of moral judgment. This market nature of the economy has allowed prices to obscure the true cost of products and limited the transparency needed to enable the connection between consumption choices and values. This in turn has led to overuse of resources and externalities that pose an existential threat most observable in the present speed of climate change. As these characteristics are tied to the present economic framework, it is increasingly apparent there is an opportunity in the teaching of economics to foster sustainability. This discussion highlights the relationship between the present focus on economic growth and climate change and uses the same example to address how the teaching of economics can be a catalyst for sustainability traction.
