33. “Systems Thinking for an Economically Literate Society”
by Michael F. Reber
Abstract: In the US a dismal truth exists about the citizenry’s lack of understanding of economic fundamentals whether it is amongst our political leaders or our university graduates. This then leads one to ask, “What can be done to help people become literate in economics?” Perhaps the answer lies in the area of systems thinking, which is a way of thinking about the interconnections between the parts of a system and their synthesis into a unified view of the whole system. More specifically, this means incorporating systems thinking and design in primary, secondary, and tertiary curricula. In this paper, the author gives a cursory review of General Systems Theory (GST) as developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy and extended by others in the systems thinking field to illustrate the confluences of thought among Ludwig von Mises and systems scientists. From this the author argues the need for systems thinking and design in curricula and makes reference to non-prescriptive teaching and learning applications for the fostering of economic literacy.
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I just wanted to say that truly I appreciate this website. My classes require scholarly journals and the database they provide for students is lacking “diversity”. It was great to be able to search and use articles, like this one, for my papers. I ended up getting an A! Thanks!
Thank you for your wonderful comments. You may be interested in seeing my blog, the Bastiat Revival Blog (http://bastiat2010revival.wordpress.com/), as it has more papers plus links to my monthly radio show, “Breakfast with Bastiat.”
Also, I greatly appreciate the fact that my paper assisted you with getting an “A” on your course paper. I’m interested in knowing what part of my paper you quoted? Would you be able to e-mail me a copy of your paper so I can share it with my students here at Waseda University, as they are required to read my paper and write a “reaction paper” for their grade?
All the best…
Michael Reber