Web Profile Why Study Economics? Web Pages Made Easy And I Quote!

Picture This Pssst! Your Slip is Showing The Grapevine The Evidence File

Nearly all economics departments across the country and around the world have developed Internet sites to share information with students and colleagues. I thought it might be interesting to survey these sites, paying particular attention to what departments say about their economics major. As Yogi Berra noted, "You can observe a lot just by watching."

One might argue that similar information could be gathered from college catalogs or department brochures. Aside from the very real problem of rounding up such material on a timely basis, these publications tend to be pro forma, dictated as they are by college administrators and academic conventions. But department Web pages are still new enough to give us a fresh look into the electronic face that each department presents to students and the world. This issue of The Teaching Economist will offer observations from my virtual tour of over 200 economics departments, primarily in the United States. I will discuss both the medium and the message.

Although there is abundant variety in Web pages across departments, most have a home page that links to details about their undergraduate program, faculty, and course offerings. Departments with a graduate program typically provide a more elaborate network of links with information about seminars and workshops, graduate applications, job market candidates, research publications, working paper series, and, in a few cases, faculty openings.

Some departments present the course catalog on-line, using an Acrobat reader. This turns out to be an unattractive option because: 1) the entire catalog must usually download before department pages can be accessed, 2) the text is less readable than regular Web entries, and 3) departments that use on-line catalogs seem to get lazy about doing anything else on line-that is, a catalog usually crowds out other useful information.

I was most interested in how departments go about promoting economics to undergraduates-that is, what they say economics is, why students should select this major, and what graduates can do with a degree in economics. Some departments offer little or nothing beyond curriculum requirements. For example, Harvard, Princeton, Indiana State, Case Western Reserve, and the University of Helsinki take a just-the-facts approach.

But most departments provide at least some rationale for pursuing economics as a major. Many couch this in a frequently-asked-questions format while others offer an on-line handbook. Some emphasize the success of their graduates. For example, Auburn lists two pages of positions currently held by their economics graduates. Skidmore has a Web page tracking graduates in a "Where-are-they-now?" fashion. Other departments, such as Iowa, list famous people who majored in economics.

Some offer lists of jobs for economics majors. For example, Auburn identifies about 250 employers looking for economics majors. Salary information is also ubiquitous on department sites. Many cite studies showing median earnings by college major. Incidentally, money is the second most commonly used icon appearing on department Web pages (most common is the building in which the department is housed). Money does double duty both as a subject of economics and as a suggestion that economics majors get their share of it. Some home pages, such as Amherst's, open with a collection of world currencies. TCU's Web site shows money falling from the sky. Eastern Michigan has rotating dollar signs on each side of its "Welcome" sign. And Trinity College in Connecticut stretches a dollar bill across the top of its home page.

Dozens of departments publish on-line newsletters including Bucknell, Colorado, Drexel, Skidmore, LSU, Texas A&M, UT-Arlington, and Carleton College. Newsletters offer convenient ways of bringing together relevant but disparate information.

Incidentally, Web addresses for all economics department sites mentioned here can be found at ideas.uqam.ca/EDIRC/index.html. Since department addresses are so readily available (any search engine will turn them up), I do not include them here but will provide addresses to other sites (though I will spare you the http:// prefix).

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Some departments take an up-close-and-personal view of economics, emphasizing how economics affects us personally and can help us make better choices. Simon Fraser's Web site, for example, says "Economics affects our daily lives in most everything we do-how much education we choose to get, our jobs, how much time to spend in leisure, whether to invest or spend all our earnings, whether to drive to university or take the bus." Indiana University's site informs students that "Economics teaches that intelligent choice requires a knowledge of alternatives and the ability to assess the costs and benefits associated in choosing among them. You will apply these economic principles to yourself as you consider what academic path to follow, what career path to follow, and as you make similar choices throughout your lifetime."

Other departments, in contrast, emphasize the social context of the discipline. According to Yale's Web site, "the focus is on social institutions and social outcomes rather than on individual economic performance. Thus economics at Yale is regarded and taught as part of a liberal education, not as a preparation for any particular vocation." Western Connecticut State tells students the same thing, nearly verbatim.

But even departments that downplay a vocational role for economics agree that it still provides a valuable background. As Yale notes, "Nonetheless, economics provides an especially relevant background for several professions." The University of Hawaii says "Economics training provides an undergraduate student with a flexible, general education that opens your future to a wide variety of career options." And Hunter College claims "While economics is not a professional major, it can provide you with a point of view and a set of skills which will be useful in almost any path you take after the completion of your undergraduate major."

Some departments are more aggressive about the value of economics. The University of New Hampshire, for example, argues that "Undergraduate training in economics is an excellent background for a variety of careers; these include banking and financial services, journalism, international business, public service, the diplomatic corps, entrepreneurial ventures, and government administration."

At least one department qualifies statements on its Web page. Georgia Tech prints on the bottom of its home page a long caveat that begins as follows: "Notwithstanding any language to the contrary, nothing contained herein constitutes nor is intended to constitute an offer, inducement, promise, or contract of any kind." This may be worth considering in this litigious age.

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A real advantage of the Internet is that a department, by relying on links to external sources, can develop a fairly sophisticated home page with not a lot of effort. The most popular external link is to Resources for Economists on the Internet (rfe.wustl.edu) edited by Bill Goffe of Southern Mississippi. Some departments offer job information for economics majors by providing a link to the National Association for Business Economists (www.nabe.com) or the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (stats.bls.gov:80/oco/ocos055.htm). Emory University's home page has a link entitled "Why an Economics Major," which goes to a site developed by South-Western College Publishing (www.swlearning.com/economics/career_resources_degree.html). That site answers a series of questions: What is economics? Why major in economics? What jobs are available to economics majors? And how much do economists get paid?

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Many Web pages open with a boldfaced quote by or about economics. Leading the quote parade is Keynes with "The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique of thinking which helps its possessor to draw correct conclusions." The second leading quote is also from Keynes: "Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."

Others quoted include Marshall, Knight, Samuelson, Heilbroner, Thomas Carlyle, Edmund Burke, C. Northcote Parkinson (of Parkinson's Law fame), and Harry Truman. Although many of the quotes are familiar to economists, some won't mean much to students. For example, what should students make of Carlyle's comment about the "dismal science," or Truman's call for a "one-armed economist?" These words just float on the screen with no explanation about why economics was considered the dismal science or why Truman wanted a one-armed economist. This minimalism reminds me of the shorthand economists often use with one another. We often cite examples that resonate with other economists but not with students. This approach is akin to the prisoners who became so familiar with each other's jokes that they numbered them and would "tell" a joke simply by calling out its number.

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As noted earlier, a department's building is the leading image on Web pages, followed by renderings of currency. The next most popular home page icon is Adam Smith in that cameo profile we have come to recognize. Keynes also shows up, though not as frequently. Neither image is much of a grabber. These colorless black and white portraits seem particularly lifeless against an otherwise colorful Web page. Although icons of the Late Greats may comfort economists, they do little to inspire most students who are accustomed to more lively Web fare.

Still, pictures, even of economists, can brighten up a page. Some departments picture their faculty either individually or in a group. In an eye-catching twist, Cal. State, Northridge cycles through pictures of faculty members, showing each briefly. A few Web pages show teachers in action. In such cases, the teacher is pictured, not with the latest technology (such as an electronic whiteboard), but with chalk and blackboard. Apparently, the virtual world is not yet ready to say goodbye to Mr. Chips. Haverford's department shows an instructor listening intently to a student who is obviously making a point. That's a good idea-making the student the focus of the interaction.

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The two most common home page shortcomings are links on the blink and the failure to update in a timely manner. For example, The University of Delaware's link to its undergraduate program goes nowhere. In fact, none of its home page links go anywhere. Georgia Tech's home page links to faculty members, but some of these links draw a blank (another says that the faculty member is on leave "perhaps never to return.")

Web pages can seem like last week's newspaper or stale fish if they are not updated in a timely fashion. Furman has not updated its newsletter, Ceteris Paribus, since January 1998, and the most recent issue of Carleton's Marginal News is dated April 1997.

Even the casual observer can't help but notice a failure to update when the page includes "last-updated" information. For example, the Web page at the University of Dallas was last updated in March of 1996. Perhaps departments that have not updated in years should think about whether they really want to advertise the fact.

Finally, some department sites are both unattractive and dated. I don't mean to pick on any one in particular, but identifying one puts a face on the problem. Indiana State has among the least inviting of department pages I found. There were no graphics and nearly all the presentation was in a dull black type. The only information available for undergraduates was a short list of requirements for the major. The Web page provided a link to faculty publications but that information has not been updated since mid-1995.

I checked some "competing" department Web sites at Indiana State (management and finance, accounting, marketing, political science, sociology, and philosophy). First, the management and finance department has no Web site, which is hard to believe and makes the economics department look better by comparison. But the other departments have sites that are much more inviting and informative than economics. The accounting site, for example, offers a newsletter, links to accounting firms and CPA societies, as well as an explanation of "What Accountants Do." The philosophy department's site features a course entitled "The Philosophy of Star Trek" with space shots and an intriguing course description.

If I were a student relying primarily on what I found on the Web pages, I would be drawn to those departments that tell a better story about their discipline. Of course, I am assuming that students actually use department sites. Some economics departments around the country offer running counters showing the number of times their Web sites have been accessed. The department site at Rice, for example, gets about 800 hits a month. UConn's site has averaged about 820 hits a month for the last two years. Apparently, Web sites do get used.

The point is that economics departments that fail to offer inviting and informative Web pages will lose students to other departments on campus or elsewhere that do a better job. This is not pandering to students; it's telling them what economics is and how they might benefit from such study. I know economists at Indiana State who are good researchers and committed teachers. I'm sure they have a greater interest in their undergraduate program than comes across on the Web site. Web-challenged departments miss an opportunity to bring economics to life. Next up, "The Grapevine" offers more ideas along these lines.

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To have good ideas we need lots of ideas. This issue of "The Grapevine" offers some ideas I came across during my virtual tour of department Web pages.

Most Web pages offer e-mail links to faculty, but Davidson College also provides e-mail addresses for all majors and minors plus many economics graduates.

Middlebury College's department Web site has a link for "Student Publications," mostly research that has been co-authored with faculty members. Another link presents the department's mission statement.

Southeast Missouri State has a Web page entitled Why Study Economics, which in itself is not unusual-as noted, many departments have similar motivators. But a senior economics student wrote this one, and it's pretty good. I like the idea of having a student make the case to other students.

Emory University's department page has a link for issues of interest to minority students. The link offers details about the American Economic Association's minority summer program as well as other campus and external sites of special interest to minorities.

Ohio Wesleyan has the most professional looking homegrown link to economic resources I came across. It is maintained by their university library and is sorted by category (business and industry, demographics, government, international). There is also an ask-the-librarian link. Departments should rely more on library resources in developing and maintaining Web connections.

Arizona's Web site underscores classroom experiments: "Various undergraduate courses, including many Principles sections, utilize student participation in classroom markets to help them learn economics; such is currently being done at only a very small number of other Departments in the country."

Oberlin's home page has a link to "Uproarious Econ Fun!" with links to economic jokes plus some non-economic diversions.

My favorite Web page quote is from Heilbroner's Worldly Philosophers, which appears on Ithaca College's site: "The great economists pursued an inquiry as exciting-and as dangerous-as any the world has ever known. The notions of the great economists were world shaking, and their mistakes nothing short of calamitous."

The best home grown passage I came across appeared as the opening sentence in Kenyon College's description of its major: "...knowledge is always gained by the orderly loss of information; that is, by condensing and abstracting and indexing the great buzzing confusion of information that comes from the world around us into a form which we can appreciate and comprehend."

Indiana University's department, like many others, opens with a picture of the department's home, Wylie Hall. A link on the home page sells T-shirts, coasters, and coffee mugs, all bearing the image of Wylie Hall. The Web site also features a photo album of pictures in and around Wylie Hall. This edifice complex seemed odd at first, but I guess faculty, students, and graduates grow attached to a building.

A number of books and other scholarly works can be found on-line at Drexel's department site. Almost all are out-of-copyright (hence, free) classics, such as The Wealth of Nations and Marshall's Principles.

The University of Hawaii provides a user-friendly undergraduate guide aimed at "describing the rewards of studying economics," while "minimizing bureaucratic frustration." A section on "complaints and grievances" explains what to do "If you feel you got the short end of the stick from some instructor." Much of the guide has this informal tone.

To help students with their writing, the University of Utah's department home page offers links to support resources around the world, including sites at the University of Melbourne, Purdue, and Penn, plus various wordsmiths including an on-line reference to The Elements of Style (www.bartleby.com/141/index.html).

Some departments, such as Swarthmore, provide information about the future availability of courses that are not offered regularly. For example, with Swarthmore's course chart, a student can determine that International Political Economy will not be offered this academic year but will be taught in the Fall of 2000. Information about course offerings really helps students plan ahead.

As you know, some institutions offer an economics major in liberal arts and some in the business school. Some do both. But there are other twist and turns in how the major is offered. For example, the University of North Dakota offers three majors: economics in liberal arts, and, in the business school, banking and financial economics and business economics. The University of Maine also has three degree programs: economics, economics-international affairs, and financial economics. And American University offers majors in economics and in economic theory, and, within each major, students may choose a general or an international track.

Finally, there are many excellent Web sites, and I would be hard pressed to say which one is best. But if you want to consider some useful models in terms of simplicity, content, timeliness, and overall appeal I would make stops at Swarthmore College and the University of Virginia. Both offer the whole package. (In the interest of full disclosure, I acknowledge that I earned a Ph.D. from Virginia in 1975, and the department there has used each edition of my textbook Economics: A Contemporary Introduction, including the just-published Fifth Edition.)

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TWO-YEAR COLLEGES

Because two-year colleges typically do not have departments of economics, I did a small study of the Web pages in Connecticut to see what they have to offer. Connecticut is home to two private two-year colleges, Mitchell and Mount Sacred Heart; neither college has a Web site. This seems like a lost opportunity.

Connecticut also has a dozen public two-year colleges under a common chancellor. Each has a Web site, but the similarity ends there. There is no better example of the diversity in the approach to the Internet than these dozen colleges. One of them, Capital in Hartford, offers descriptions of its economic courses along with extensive Web links to economic resources on the Internet. But several institutions provide no information about economics other than the fact that they do offer courses in the subject.

OVER-THE-TOP COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

In my virtual tour, I read a number of course descriptions. Make sure course descriptions can be reasonably understood by students contemplating course selections. As an example of what not to do, here is a description for a macro principles course I came across: "Topics include the pricing system as an allocation model, the internal dynamic of the business cycle, the effects of capital deepening and technology on productivity and real wages..." This description may resonate with someone who already studied some economics, but I count a half dozen terms that would be unfamiliar to most students considering the course.

* "Economic systems are not value-free columns of numbers based on rules of reason, but ways of expressing what varying societies believe is important."
-- Gloria Steinem

* "Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."
-- Daniel Boorstin

* "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence."
-- Robert Frost

* "Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and mathematics, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits that will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves."
-- Bertrand Russell

* "The aim of all education is, or should be, to teach people to educate themselves."
-- Arnold Toynbee

* "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
- - Samuel Johnson

* "All economics is micro."
-- Peggy Noonan

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