The Economics Anti-Textbook is both an introduction to, and critique of the typical approaches to economics teaching, written by Roderick Hill and Tony Myatt in 2010. The main thrust of the authors’ argument is that basic economics courses, being centered on models of perfect competition, are biased towards the support of free market or laissez-faire ideologies, and neglect to mention conflicting evidence or give sufficient coverage of alternative descriptive models.
. . . The Economics Anti-Textbook . . .
The book seeks to both teach economic material and also to counter what is written in other economics texts.[1][2] The book encourages its readers to become skeptics, urging critical thinking against the hegemony of rigid free market ideology.[1][3]
The book advocates for empiricism in economics and demonstrates the abundance of un-empirical free-market ideology in undergraduate economics classes.[4][5] Many authors have since repeated similar concerns about economics education.[6]
Each chapter begins with a dense but readable summary of common neoclassical economic textbook teaching on a topic, and then proceeds to discuss the limitations of these teachings and their public policy implications.[7]
Throughout the text are suggested “Questions for Your Professor” designed “to reveal the ignorance of neoclassical economics professors of their own discipline, their lack of understanding of alternative theories and their wilful neglect of conflicting evidence.”[8]
The book primarily discusses major topics of microeconomics,[1][7] including consumer behavior, firm behavior, market structure, externalities, income distribution, government, and international trade.[7] An appendix discusses the 2008 financial crisis in light of the earlier discussions of markets.[7]
. . . The Economics Anti-Textbook . . .