“The striking thing is how similar the two texts are,” he says. “Despite the fact that Mankiw was known as a conservative economist.”
For his part, Mankiw says that he believes his course exposes students to mainstream economic principles without substantial methodological bias. “I try as best I can to keep my personal political philosophy from what we do in Ec 10.”
“Ec 10 has really been a leading course nationally in terms of how introductory economics should be taught,” says Economics Department Chair John Y. Campbell. “My colleagues and I think that the course is a broad mainstream introduction to the economics field.”
Jeffrey A. Miron, director of undergraduate studies for the economics department, says that Social Analysis 72 does not fulfill the introductory requirement for the economics concentration because it doesn’t cover all of the material offered in the two-semester Ec 10 course. But while it does not count for concentration credit, he said, the economics department still endorsed the course because “we’re not about shutting down options.”
Professor Feldstein, formerly of Ec 10, does not believe Social Analysis 72 to be an alternative for the full year course. Rather, he explains in an e-mail, it is for students who have taken Ec 10 “and want to see a particular school of criticism.”
“There are various other critiques of mainstream economics…that students could read about but that are not taught in the department,” he writes.
“Some people might call it a liberal critique or a Marxist critique,” says Miron of the course. But, he says, there can be a clear division between the views of the professor and the particular curriculum.
Miron says he tries no to let his views come out in his intermediate microeconomic theory course. But like Marglin, he offers a different course in which his views align more closely with the curriculum, entitled “A Libertarian Perspective on Economic and Social Policy.”
And at their base, the various economic courses might not be so different. “Supply curve still slopes up and the demand curve still slopes down,” says Miron.
—Elyssa A.L. Spitzer contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff Writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.
CORRECTION
An earlier version of the Oct. 29 news article "Alternate Ec 10 Gains Popularity" incorrectly attributed a quote about the national and departmental reputation of Social Analysis 10—or Ec 10—to Jeffrey A. Miron, director of undergraduate studies for the economics department. In fact, that quote came from the department's chair, John Y. Campbell.