Economists need to move over Economics, says London School of Economics' director

In the global scenario where most of the major economies are looking inwards, it is important for economists to learn beyond Economics, says Neil McLean, director, academics and professional development division, London School of Economics (LSE). “Economists have focused on Economics alone for way too long now. One of the major challenges for budding economists will be to correlate commerce and economics. Humanitarian studies as major economic decisions have a major impact on human lives as well,” says Neil.

He further said it is important for undergraduate students to have multidisciplinary approach to understand complex social issues. Stating the example of one of the projects at LSE he says, “We have a project called LSE100, under which students learn about a single issue from multiple aspects. Recently, we held lectures on ‘Future of Democracy’ and experts from various fields, including Economics, Business, Philosophy and Media, delivered lectures.” He also talked about a relatively new interdisciplinary undergraduate programme at LSE - BSc in Politics Philosophy and Economics (BSc PPE), which teaches modern and traditional theories on the three disciplines from a global perspective.

During his recent visit to India to train teachers conducting LSE’s programmes in India at the Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF), New Delhi, he says that the Indian students studying at LSE, opt for traditional courses keeping in mind the vocational aspect. Traditional courses, including Finance, Accounting, Law, and Economics are most opted-for courses by Indian students at LSE,” he says.