Economic education: A qualitative renewal is necessary and possible

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need and characterize the main directions of a deep reform of economic education in Russia. The existing model of economic education, based on the absolute dominance of neoclassical economic theory, even taking into account the recent partial renovation of the latter, is unable to provide the formation of knowledge and competence, allowing not only to solve standard tasks of rational choice of optimal investment and consumption trajectories, but also to independently analyze and act in a qualitatively changing economy, focusing not only on selfish private interest, but also on solving the problems of national and global development. In a dialogue with the publication of A. Auzan, A. Maltsev and A. Kurdin (Voprosy Ekonomiki, 2023, No. 10), the authors show that the changes proposed are necessary, but not sufficient, only in some part they take into account the results of past discussions and publications. The answer to the challenges facingeducation in the context of qualitative changes in the economy and society necessitates the inclusion in the circle of compulsory disciplines (1) of heterodox economic theory, which reveals the content of existing economic systems, the contradictions and patterns of their transformation, the technological, social, political and cultural context of economic processes; (2) the course “Russian economy”; (3) the history of economy and economic thought with (4) a significant reduction and updating of the content of courses in micro- and macroeconomics, strengthening their social, environmental, and humanistic orientation