Protesters welcome economics reforms

Economics students who protested that the way their subject was taught was too theoretical and mathematical have welcomed proposals for its reform.

Recommendations for change in course content and at an institutional level are made in a report by Jean-Paul Fitoussi, chairman of the French Economics Observatory.

In June 2000, economics students at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris published an open letter on the internet, questioning the relevance of what they were being taught.

They complained that although they had chosen to study economics in order to understand the "economic phenomena faced by the citizen of today", most of their studies revolved around "neo-classical theory or related approaches".

The report recommends that economics courses should be revised at all degree levels.