The BBC reports:
Only three economics teachers were trained on teacher training courses in the whole of England last year, shows a study of students entering teaching.
The report’s author, Professor Alan Smithers, warns that economics risks “dying out” as a school subject…
The figures for economics A-level students have been in a prolonged downturn – down by more than a quarter between 1996 and 2006 to about 17,000 – with the subject overtaken by a range of other subjects that have become much more popular.
Hm. Freakonomics has apparently sold over 3 million copies worldwide; The Undercover Economist almost a million. Then there’s the hugely-influential Nudge, Predictably Irrational has done very well in the US, The Economic Naturalist seems to be riding high in the UK. Looks like the education sector is a contrarian investor.
