Multidisciplinarity in economics education and how it can shape economic thinking in the future

Abstract

Abstract During the period known as the economic and global financial crisis, economic forecasting came under heavy criticism for its inability to predict the crisis, to the point where said crisis was deemed not just a crisis of the global economy, but of economic thinking as well, in particular mainstream, neoclassical economics. The critique of economics has focused primarily on the following aspects: its unrealistic assumptions regarding markets and human behaviours; its poor track record in predicting phenomena such as the crisis itself; its over-reliance on models that bear little resemblance to real world conditions, and also that it has a very narrow focus, reluctant to integrate useful inputs from other fields, which is perceived as leading to stagnation and hindering progress in the field. Following the crisis, several academic debates occurred within the field of economics, with several heterodox schools of economic thought receiving renewed attention, while universities have begun to expand the range of disciplines included in their business programmes, gravitating towards a multidisciplinary approach. The present paper aims to examine the concept of multidisciplinarity with a focus on its role in business education today and to assess the extent to which its spread and prevalence can usher in a new paradigm in economic thinking.