Teaching economic history requires the study of how to combine the economists' modeling and statistical methods with the methods used by historians and the other social sciences. It often involves learning how to search for quantitative data from a variety of sources and then building panel datasets that match the data found with existing…

Most world history books feature the successes of the Roman Empire during the first and second centuries. During the third and fourth centuries, they turn to the events leading up to the empire's collapse. Explanations of the Roman Empire's decline and fall often cite external military threats, governmental failure and instability,…

This article represents the third in a "ghost story" series by the same authors. Readers may recall that Mr. Bernanke was "visited" by the ghosts of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes in the March/April 2010 issue of "Social Education" as these two famous economists debated the economic recovery (see EJ878912). Mr.…

Teaching economics at the preK-12 level has always been one of the most difficult aspects of social studies education notes C. Frederick Risinger, yet, throughout his teaching career economic issues and events were the drivers of most historical, political, and sociological trends and topics and even human slavery was driven and maintained by…

This paper presents instructive interdisciplinary applications of constrained mechanics calculus in economics on a level appropriate for undergraduate physics education. The aim of the paper is (i) to meet the demand for illustrative examples suitable for presenting the background of the highly expanding research field of econophysics even at the…

The economy's need for workers originates in the demand for the goods and services that they provide. So, to project employment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) starts by projecting the gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018. GDP is the value of the final goods produced and services provided in the United States. Then, BLS estimates the…

This article offers a large-scale view of how design fits in the world economy today, and the role of design education in preparing designers for their economic and professional role. The current context of design involves broad-based historical changes including a major redistribution of geopolitical and industrial power from the West to the…

Academic tenure is now under attack. A down economy has placed greater pressure on institutions making tenure more difficult to obtain. Nineteen tips for gaining tenure in a down economy are presented along with several justifications for tenure and why tenure is important for the preservation of the academy and the freedom to research and teach.

The author considers the prospect that the new Liberal-Conservative coalition Government will use the crisis of the largest public debt since the Second World War to contract and restructure education and public services, and discusses what cuts and changes are likely to happen.

Universities UK organised a seminar in Brighton in April 2010, bringing together vice-chancellors, researchers and policymakers to take a close look at the implications of the global and national economic crisis for both the UK economy and higher education. It also examined the changing nature of student demand in a post-recession economy. This…

If adversity brings opportunity, great opportunity may now be on the doorstep. The dual forces of an economy transitioning from an industrial focus to an innovation imperative, and a global financial downturn of massive proportions are leaving families, organizations,and communities scrambling for relief, solutions, and hope. Meanwhile, a…

This article reports that years of rising fuel and materials costs, compounded by current budget shortfalls and uncertainty about the marketability of construction bonds, have made school facilities directors eager to reap the benefits of President Barack Obama's economic-recovery initiative, which is slated to include federal money for building…

The author's students regularly ask him, "Why can't the government just print more money?" Typically they are seeking a simple solution to a complex problem like the national debt, or they just want the government to make people all rich the easy way, by handing them wads of cash. His best answer used to be, "They just can't," but the…

The dollar, once one of the world's strongest currencies, has fallen dramatically in recent years--a development impacting attitudes from corporate boardrooms to the sets of music videos where artists are choosing to flash the euro over American cash. When measured against a collection of other leading worldwide currencies--like the European euro,…

There is significant interest in reforming retirement plans for public school employees, particularly in light of current market conditions. This article presents an overview of the various types of state regulation of public pension plans that affect possibilities for reform. Nearly all of the various approaches to public pension plan protection…