A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
Economics education is never neutral. It frames what counts as a problem, whose voices matter, and which forms of reasoning are valued. Our approach treats teaching as an intellectual responsibility. Economics should be taught through research, real-world complexity, plural traditions, and critical engagement with power, enterprise, and innovation.
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
ReplicationSources
HOME
Why research-led teaching isn’t enough
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Research-led teaching shows students research. Research-driven learning uses research to shape how teaching is designed. Guided by pedagogical content knowledge, students learn economics by working with questions, evidence and uncertainty — not by memorising results.
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Example Resource
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Designing Interventions
Interpreting Evidence
Explaining Outcomes
Understanding Decisions
DECOLONISED
Teaching real-world economics helps students explain why observed behaviour often diverges from theoretical predictions.
Real-world economics equips students to evaluate and design policies that work with behaviour rather than against it.
Students learn why markets, firms, and policies often produce unexpected or uneven results.
Students learn to analyse economic choices as they are made in practice, not as they are assumed in models.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Resources
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Pluralism as Judgement, Not Dogma
DECOLONISED
Economic research shows that economic phenomena behaves differently across contexts, methods, and assumptions. Pluralist teaching reflects this reality by treating economics as a comparative, applied discipline in which understanding emerges through testing and judgement rather than transmission of a single framework.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Example Module Reading
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Reframing Solutions
Interpreting Knowledge
Explaining Inequality
Questioning Assumptions
DECOLONISED
Decolonised economics equips students to evaluate policies that recognise context, voice and lived experience rather than imposing one-size-fits-all solutions.
Decolonised economics helps students ask whose knowledge is represented, and whose is excluded, in economic evidence and explanation.
Students learn to explain economic outcomes through histories of colonialism, extraction, and global power, not just market forces.
Students learn that many economic models are built on historical and cultural assumptions that are rarely made explicit or examined.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
HOME
Economics cannot be learned only in classrooms
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
Internships and placements expose students to the conditions under which economic decisions are actually made: time pressure, imperfect information, institutional constraints and real consequences. Without these experiences, economics risks being learned as abstraction rather than practice.
PLURAL
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
INTERNSHIP Case STUDIES
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
PLACEMENT Case STUDIES
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Student Training Resource
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Governing AI Use
Questioning AI Decisions
Auditing AI Power
Interpreting AIOUTPUT
DECOLONISED
Teaching real-world economics helps students explain why observed behaviour often diverges from theoretical predictions.
Students learn where automation should stop, and where economic responsibility must remain human.
Students learn to evaluate AI systems as economic institutions that distribute risk, harm, and advantage.
Students learn to treat AI output as economic evidence that requires explanation, not authority.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
GOVERNANCE
- Decide where automation is acceptable
- Identify where human responsibility must remain
- Assess institutional oversight mechanisms
- Evaluate long-term economic consequences
Limits of Rational Choice
- Decisions made under uncertainty and pressure
- Limited attention and information
- Reliance on judgement and shortcuts
- Predictable patterns of error
Historical Structures
- Colonial legacies in development
- Unequal global relations
- Persistent structural disadvantage
- Path dependence over time
Interpretation
- Identify what the AI output actually represents
- Distinguish pattern from explanation
- Check how data choice shapes results
- Decide what requires human judgement
Behavioural Policy Design
- Policies fail despite correct incentives
- Low take-up undermines effectiveness
- Behavioural responses distort outcomes
- Design determines success or failure
A single economic "truth" is taught as settled knowledge, discouraging questioning and independent judgement...
- One framework presented as correct
- Alternative explanations marginalised
- Models accepted rather than tested
- Learning rewards memory, not reasoning
Bad Economics
Pluralism treats economic knowledge as contested and evolving, encouraging students to develop judgement....
- Multiple theories examined side by side
- Assumptions and methods made explicit
- Evidence used to test explanations
- Learning values reasoning and critique
Good Economics
VS
Colonial Foundations
- Eurocentric starting points
- Assumptions treated as universal
- Historical context erased
- Power embedded in theory
Behaviour in the Data
- Consistent departures from theoretical predictions
- Context and framing change responses
- Bias appears repeatedly, not randomly
- Models misread observed behaviour
Behaviour in Systems
- Interaction amplifies individual behaviour
- Framing alters market dynamics
- Institutions shape choices directly
- Small design features have large effects
Knowledge and Power
- Dominance of Western frameworks
- Marginalised perspectives overlooked
- Data shaped by institutions
- Knowledge reflects power relations
Trade-offs
- Identify the objective the AI is optimising
- Expose which outcomes are prioritised
- Identify who gains and who loses
- Recognise which alternatives are excluded
Contextual Policy Design
- Local knowledge matters
- Policy is not neutral
- Participation over imposition
- Plural paths to development
Students replicate and reproduce economic results to understand how findings are constructed, where they are fragile, and how methods and assumptions shape conclusions.
Replication
Research is treated as a shared practice. Students and staff work together on economic questions, linking theory with empirical analysis.
Collaboration
Teaching is built around economic questions, evidence, and uncertainty. Students learn to frame problems and exercise judgement, rather than apply models by rote.
Inquiry
AUDIT
- Test for bias and exclusion
- Examine incentives behind system design
- Assess risks and unintended effects
- Evaluate need for regulation or restraint
Teachers
Duncan
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Transcript
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
Economics education is never neutral. It frames what counts as a problem, whose voices matter, and which forms of reasoning are valued. Our approach treats teaching as an intellectual responsibility. Economics should be taught through research, real-world complexity, plural traditions, and critical engagement with power, enterprise, and innovation.
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
ReplicationSources
HOME
Why research-led teaching isn’t enough
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Research-led teaching shows students research. Research-driven learning uses research to shape how teaching is designed. Guided by pedagogical content knowledge, students learn economics by working with questions, evidence and uncertainty — not by memorising results.
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Example Resource
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Designing Interventions
Interpreting Evidence
Explaining Outcomes
Understanding Decisions
DECOLONISED
Teaching real-world economics helps students explain why observed behaviour often diverges from theoretical predictions.
Real-world economics equips students to evaluate and design policies that work with behaviour rather than against it.
Students learn why markets, firms, and policies often produce unexpected or uneven results.
Students learn to analyse economic choices as they are made in practice, not as they are assumed in models.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Resources
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Pluralism as Judgement, Not Dogma
DECOLONISED
Economic research shows that economic phenomena behaves differently across contexts, methods, and assumptions. Pluralist teaching reflects this reality by treating economics as a comparative, applied discipline in which understanding emerges through testing and judgement rather than transmission of a single framework.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Example Module Reading
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Reframing Solutions
Interpreting Knowledge
Explaining Inequality
Questioning Assumptions
DECOLONISED
Decolonised economics equips students to evaluate policies that recognise context, voice and lived experience rather than imposing one-size-fits-all solutions.
Decolonised economics helps students ask whose knowledge is represented, and whose is excluded, in economic evidence and explanation.
Students learn to explain economic outcomes through histories of colonialism, extraction, and global power, not just market forces.
Students learn that many economic models are built on historical and cultural assumptions that are rarely made explicit or examined.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
HOME
Economics cannot be learned only in classrooms
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
Internships and placements expose students to the conditions under which economic decisions are actually made: time pressure, imperfect information, institutional constraints and real consequences. Without these experiences, economics risks being learned as abstraction rather than practice.
PLURAL
DECOLONISED
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
INTERNSHIP Case STUDIES
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
PLACEMENT Case STUDIES
A manifesto for teaching economics
Teaching economics as inquiry, not instruction.
Student Training Resource
HOME
RESEARCH-DRIVEN
REAL-WORLD
PLURAL
Governing AI Use
Questioning AI Decisions
Auditing AI Power
Interpreting AIOUTPUT
DECOLONISED
Teaching real-world economics helps students explain why observed behaviour often diverges from theoretical predictions.
Students learn where automation should stop, and where economic responsibility must remain human.
Students learn to evaluate AI systems as economic institutions that distribute risk, harm, and advantage.
Students learn to treat AI output as economic evidence that requires explanation, not authority.
ENTERPRISING
AI-AWARE
'Good economics teaching does not simplify the world for students. It gives them the tools to engage with its complexity'
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
+ Info
GOVERNANCE
Limits of Rational Choice
Historical Structures
Interpretation
Behavioural Policy Design
A single economic "truth" is taught as settled knowledge, discouraging questioning and independent judgement...
Bad Economics
Pluralism treats economic knowledge as contested and evolving, encouraging students to develop judgement....
Good Economics
VS
Colonial Foundations
Behaviour in the Data
Behaviour in Systems
Knowledge and Power
Trade-offs
Contextual Policy Design
Students replicate and reproduce economic results to understand how findings are constructed, where they are fragile, and how methods and assumptions shape conclusions.
Replication
Research is treated as a shared practice. Students and staff work together on economic questions, linking theory with empirical analysis.
Collaboration
Teaching is built around economic questions, evidence, and uncertainty. Students learn to frame problems and exercise judgement, rather than apply models by rote.
Inquiry
AUDIT