Hey, maybe the economic crisis will have a bit of a lasting effect on incentives, after all – if only indirectly. On January 20th, the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Department of Economics will hold a public debate entitled “What kind of economics should we teach?” to address some of the more pressing problems of the current economics curriculum –

“The recent global crisis has lead to questions being asked about whether the kind of economics being taught to students in leading economics departments was responsible for the widespread failure to predict the timing and magnitude of the events that unfolded in 2008. Critiques range from an absence of historical context in mainstream teaching of economics to excessive reliance on mathematical models. This panel brings together four leading economists to debate this issue and to discuss what changes in the economics curriculum and the way that it is delivered are desirable.”

To be fair, there are probably worse places for such a debate than the LSE.