Economics teaching failing students and society, says Prof

University economics departments around the world are failing their students by ignoring the real-world effects of their discipline, among them rolling financial crises and environmental destruction, according to Professor Clive Spash. "It's basically a failure, we're training economists who don't understand the real economy," said Spash, Chair of Public Policy and Governance at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. Despite recent efforts by some students to overhaul the way their courses are taught, incumbent thinking reigns on. "The students have got to take direct action. They've got to make sure that the faculties, the economics departments, really understand that they are failing them. They are failing them in their education. They're teaching them mathematical formalistic models that have no bearing on the economy." Among the problems are ideas that unconstrained markets might remedy growing inequality or that economic growth and people buying more stuff could somehow bring about a recovery and make people better off. "If you want to really learn about economics maybe don't go to an economics department, go somewhere else," Spash said.