What Does CORE’s The Economy Offer Students and Teachers?

This article is in dialogue with the special issue “CORE’s Economics Textbook” (EPW, 16 June 2018). This response adds a teacher’s perspective to the discussion around the relevance of The Economy textbook for the Indian education system. The articles in the special issue have discussed and debated the theoretical nuances, economics frameworks, and methodologies that differentiate The Economy from other standard economic textbooks. This article will focus on the technological and pedagogic resources offered by CORE and argue that these innovations create a more immersive and participative learning experience.

I have been using The Economy as the textbook for an introduction-to-economics course at Azim Premji University and found this textbook to be a very useful resource for undergraduate teachers and students of economics. This article is also based on reflections from an ongoing exercise that a few of us are a part of, about “Rethinking Undergraduate” economics in India (De and Thomas 2018), documenting the dialogue amongst multiple stakeholders of undergraduate economics about the challenges faced by undergraduate economic teachers and students. At this forum, many teachers noted that the teaching of economics has become like a technical subject, where the main content transacted is economic theories, mathematical methods, and data sets, and the main form of assessment is high-stake end-semester examinations. This model of education does not inculcate a strong conceptual understanding of the discipline or develop evaluative skills amongst students. As a consequence, economics students struggle to translate their learning into their work life or when pursuing a graduate/research degree. The Economy is one potential solution towards addressing some of the malaise affecting undergraduate economics education in India.