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Does economics need to be ‘decolonised’?
@cacrisalves and I explore this question in our recent @EconObservatory article, based on recent discussions at
@FestivalofIdeas.
A lil thread
https://www.economicsobservatory.com/economicsfest-does-economics-need-to-be-decolonised
@cacrisalves and I explore this question in our recent @EconObservatory article, based on recent discussions at
@FestivalofIdeas.
A lil thread
https://www.economicsobservatory.com/economicsfest-does-economics-need-to-be-decolonised
In this piece, we bring in reflections from our discussions with @FadekemiAbiru @SurbhiKesar @farwasial @kestontnt @ImranRasul3 @RhondaVSharpe, chaired by @econromesh. You can watch the clips of the discussions here https://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/events/decolonising-economics/ and here https://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/events/decolonising/.
While addressing racism and colonialism in Economics may seem "new" to many economists, @RhondaVSharpe reminded everyone that in the US, the organised struggle of black economists within the @AEAjournals stretches back to 1969.
When thinking about how we got here, @cacrisalves reminded us of the expression that the victor writes the history, and the same is true in economics. Viewed in this context, it should perhaps not be surprising that we learn a very narrow and Eurocentric version of economics.
So in what way can we say Econ has been colonized? We identified 3 key erasures:
1) The erasure of colonialism in the field’s depiction of development of capitalism
2) The erasure of non-Western scholars in the history of economic thought
3) The erasure of pluralism and power
1) The erasure of colonialism in the field’s depiction of development of capitalism
2) The erasure of non-Western scholars in the history of economic thought
3) The erasure of pluralism and power
Because of these 'erasures,' we miss out on fruitful approaches such as the postcolonial feminist perspectives @FadekemiAbiru discussed at the festival, which are important for understanding the impact of colonial rule and empire on economies and societies across the world.
@SurbhiKesar pointed out that these 'erasures' also have serious implications for development economics, where a Western-centric view of what development should be is reproduced by assuming that developing economies are simply 'late' developers...
@farwasial built on this point, showing that the neat distinction between public & private spheres that we see in Econ, based on Enlightenment views of how a ‘modern’ economy operates, fails to capture alternative models that do not delineate so clearly between these spheres.
Based on these discussions, we summarise three lessons for what DEcolonising economics then means:
1) Acknowledging that development of capitalism was actually founded on a colonial and racist project. This has implications for how we theorise about capitalist dynamics today.
1) Acknowledging that development of capitalism was actually founded on a colonial and racist project. This has implications for how we theorise about capitalist dynamics today.
2) ‘De-centring’ Western ideas in the history of economic thought.
3) ‘Re-politicising’ economic theory and giving more space to theories emerging from outside the West.
3) ‘Re-politicising’ economic theory and giving more space to theories emerging from outside the West.
In terms of teaching economics, @kestontnt described just how far behind Economics in the UK is in terms of grappling with racial inequalities, as courses about race are almost non-existent in UK universities. See his recent @nature article too. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01753-3
While more scholars are recognising that there's a 'problem', there is a highly unequal distribution of attitudes across disciplines. In a recent study I did with @SurbhiKesar, we demonstrates that mainstream economists are highly unlikely to teach about racial inequalities.
In terms of research, @ImranRasul3 presented his preliminary findings from a study of the extent to which economists publish research on race. He finds that between 2000 and 2020, only 1.4% of economics papers were on race-related issues, compared with 9% in sociology.
We should note that Imran Rasul’s analysis considers the mainstream of these fields and that there are alternative strands where more race-related economics research takes place, such as @RRPembrokeshire.
In addition to the lack of race-related research, we also see other biases in academic publishing in Econ. E.g. it's much more likely that academic work focused on the US will be published in a top-five economics journal compared with research on other countries.
The panels brought to light an uncomfortable notion with which we as economists must sit: telling the truth about who we are and how our field developed requires recognising our own biases, position and privilege.
Really happy to be able to engage w/ these discussions at @FestivalofIdeas, and regularly with @DivDecEcon @cacrisalves @SurbhiKesar & @devikadutt. And glad that platforms like @EconObservatory are giving this issue space (thank you @econromesh!). Looking forward to more debates!
