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The challenge to the pervading (and failing) economic system that began as a discussion in the Occupy/Indignados demos has been reaching deep into some Universities amongst students of Economics, but not exclusively. Soon after Occupy Wall Street set base in Zuccotti Park several US Universities set up discussions in some courses about the proposals of the new movement, such as New York University, offering “Cultures and Economies: Why Occupy Wall Street? The History and Politics of Debt and Finance” taught by professor Lisa Duggan. Others followed suit.

“Harvard University students walked out of an economics course and sent an open letter to Professor N. Gregory Mankiw, expressing anger over the conservatively biased curriculum and Harvard’s role in the current financial crisis.

The student demonstrators walked out of Economics 10 on Nov. 2 to walk with an Occupy march, and to express solidarity with the upcoming National Day of Action on Nov. 24. Some 70 Harvard students walked out of Mankiw’s course last week in protest of what they saw as a bias toward right-leaning economic policies, especially the promotion of unfettered capitalism and a perceived unwillingness to discuss capitalism’s flaws”. International Business Times.

Now, across the Atlantic, “Economics students aim to tear up free-market syllabus: Undergraduates at Manchester University propose overhaul of orthodox teachings to embrace alternative theories… Economics undergraduates at the University of Manchester have formed the Post-Crash Economics Society, which they hope will be copied by universities across the country” The Guardian .

Critical Thinking reports that “For too long, academic discourse, particularly in economics, has been dominated and shaped by powers with a vested interest in the status quo but since the recent banking and economic crises erupted in 2008, a growing number of people recognise the shortcomings of the prescriptions applied to the global economy. In June 2013, Rethinking Economics held a three day conference at Birkbeck College and the London School of Economics, bringing together academics and students from across the UK and beyond, to explore alternative ideas.

As Pressenza is already involved in reporting on Alternative Economics  we hope to continue updating such new and exciting proposals arising from these mainly young initiatives.