The problem: the current financial crisis has called into question the very fundamentals of economics as taught in most modern economics departments. It is increasingly recognized that the profession of economics has become parochial and unresponsive to knowledge from outside of their own small community–including the heterodox tradition within economics itself.

The solution: close one of the few remaining heterodox departments in the United States, and ensure that none of their members can move to the ‘standard’ economics department.

The mind reels.

The Department of Economics and Policy Studies at the University of Notre Dame has been officially dissolved. « Real-World Economics Review Blog

Readers should know that the implications of the decision are much broader than the fate of ECOP faculty. It shows how university governance has dramatically changed, at Notre Dame and elsewhere, in undermining faculty and student input. The basic idea is, they should shut up and tend to their “own affairs” (teaching, churning out publications, and studying) and let the administration go about its work in remaking the university. It also shows how closed the discipline of economics remains—even after the crises of capitalism that have called into question every facet and dimension of mainstream economics, from basic theory to policy recommendations. Finally, it shows how fragile and threatened academic freedom is, at Notre Dame and throughout higher education in the United States.