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This text demonstrates the continuing relevance of economics for understanding the world, through a restatement of the importance of plurality and heterodox ideas for teaching and research. The Great Financial Crash of 2007-8 gave rise to a widespread critique of economics for its inability to explain the most significant economic event since the 1930s. The current straightjacket of neo-classical undergraduate economic teaching and research hinders students' understanding of the world they live in. The chapters in this book provide examples to demonstrate the importance of pluralistic and heterodox ideas from across the breadth of economics.

Intro -- Acknowledgement -- Contents -- 1: Introduction: The Financial Crash and Post-Crash Economics -- Economic Policy -- Inequality -- Ethics -- Conclusion -- References -- 2: Student Reflections and Post-Crash Economics -- Introduction -- Teaching Pluralist and Heterodox -- Policy and Applied Economics -- Future Directions for Economics -- Students' Conclusions -- Appendix: Questionnaire -- References -- Part I: Problems in Business Economics -- 3: Business Strategy, Economic Crisis and the Theory of the Firm -- Business Strategy and Economics Collide -- Neo-Classical Theories of the Firm -- Equilibrium -- Keynesianism and Theories of the Firm -- Labour Theory of Value and the Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall -- Post-Keynesian Approaches Linking Labour Theory of Value with State Regulation -- Conclusion -- References -- 4: History of Contemporary Economic Thought: Radical Economics, Marxist Economics and Marx's Economics -- Introduction -- Varieties of Radical Economics -- Bourgeois Economics Before Keynes -- Keynes' Revolutionary Contribution -- Keynesianism and the Post-war Boom -- Influence on Social Democratic Thinking -- Was Keynesianism Responsible for the "Long Boom"? -- The End of the Keynesian Consensus and the Rise of Neoliberalism -- Radical Economics from 1945 to 2008 -- Radical Economics After the 2008 Crisis -- Financialisation -- Underconsumption and Inequality -- A Synthesis of Inequality and Financialisation in Explaining the Crisis -- Marx's Economics -- Marx and the Falling Rate of Profit -- Marx, Credit and Finance -- Lack of Profitability or Lack of Demand? -- Capital, Exploitation and Accumulation -- Conclusion -- References -- Part II: Problems in Micro Economics -- 5: Applying Principles of Action Learning in Undergraduate Economics -- Introduction -- The Concept of Action Learning

This article examines the theoretical underpinning of living wage campaigns. The article uses evidence, derived from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey from 2005 to 2008, to examine the extent to which a living wage will address low pay within the labour force. We highlight the greater incidence of low pay within the private sector and then focus upon the public sector where the living wage demand has had most impact. The article builds upon the results from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey with analysis of the British Household Panel Survey in 2007 in order to examine the impact that the introduction of a living wage, within the public sector, would have in reducing household inequality.

AbstractThe election of the Scottish government, in May 2007, raised expectations that devolution may at last give rise to a sea change in the development of welfare policy. Certainly, in the areas of education and health the newly elected Scottish National Party (SNP) Scottish government, despite its minority control of the parliament, lost no time in announcing significant changes to previous policies in the areas of hospital closures and primary school class sizes. The proposals to introduce universal free school meals in all primary schools for school children in years one to three from 2010, following a pilot in selected local authorities, was one of these changes. This policy shift is of significance for three reasons. First, the previous executive had explicitly rejected proposals for universal free school meals on two previous occasions. Second, it represented a movement towards universality and away from the strategy of targeting and means‐testing welfare adhered to by both the Westminster UK government and the previous Scottish Executive. As such, therefore, the introduction of universal free school meals marks a significant victory for the campaigning groups behind the move. Finally, and perhaps of still greater significance, the introduction of a pilot scheme for universal provision in England, announced by the Westminster government in September 2008, further highlights one other goal of devolution: that of a potential for policy experimentation and divergence. Universal free school provision may be the first example of devolution providing a crucible for welfare policy for the wider United Kingdom. This paper assesses the extent to which an extension of the entitlement to free school meals is likely to improve the access of free school meals to children from the poorest of households and the extent to which changes in free school meal provision leads to a regionally specific impact on child poverty due to variations of household composition within the English regions and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In doing so we suggest that evidence for the advantages of universal provision provides a positive example of devolution's potential for acting as a welfare policy crucible.

UK government policy over the past thirty years has seen a movement away from universal provision of welfare towards the targeting of welfare. The advent of devolution in Scotland, and to a lesser degree Wales, has, however, created new policy forums in which the shift towards targeted benefits has been reversed in a number of important fields. Welfare provision in relation to children is a further key area in which this policy debate has emerged. Little evidence has been provided for the effectiveness of this shift in policy until now. We examine the effect of this divergence in welfare policy. We look at the issue of universality and targeting by examining the impact of the proposal for the introduction of universal free school meals to all children in full-time state education. The current system of free school meals is found to be the least effective method of welfare provision. Other methods of targeting are found to be more effective than the current system, but universal provision is found to be the only mechanism for consistently providing welfare to all low-income households.

1. Introduction: the financial crisis, the Covid pandemic and the future of economics. By Abdullah Yusuf, Carlo Morelli and Omar Feraboli, University of Dundee -- 2. COVID-19 and the Future of Higher Education. By Abdullah Yusuf, University of Dundee, Mehdi Chowdhury, Bournemouth University, and Ian Roache, University of Dundee -- 3. Assessing the education needs of the Rohingya refugees and the impacts of COVID-19. By Roberta Dumitriu, University of Dundee -- 4. COVID-19 and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa: has the pandemic taught us anything we didn't already know?. By Kevin Deane, Julia Chukwuma and Lorena Lombardozzi, Open University -- 5. Covid 19: A comparison of equality-promoting policy-responses related to education across Europe. By Daniela Tavasci and Luigi Ventimiglia, Queen Mary University of London -- 6. What is opportunity cost?. By Martin Jones, University of Dundee -- 7. Labour Rights, Full Employment, and a Dynamic Market Economy. By Morris Altman, University of Dundee -- 8. An Analysis on the State of Economics Education in Scottish Universities. By Louis Bryson, University of Dundee -- 9. Experiences and Reflections on being taught undergraduate economics. By Emma Madill, Stoyanka Stoimenova, Louis Bryson, University of Dundee -- 10. Post-Crash Economics: What are the implications of the 2007 crisis for the teaching of economics?. By Omar Feraboli, University of Dundee.