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Socialist bias in VCE Economics

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costargh:
I study the curriculum in question and I can honestly say that I don't think there is much bias in it at all.You are basically told the free market is the best operation, however there are market failures. Governments try to correct these market failures but sometimes these result in government failures.

It doesn't really focus on what economics "ought to be". It quite explicitly focuses on "what is". For VCE level, I think this is perfectly fine. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than it already is.

Collin Li:
The reason why I think it does have a slant is because VCE Economics focuses on macroeconomic models, rather than spending time on welfare analysis (microeconomics).

Welfare analysis is particularly important. It is the proof that markets are indeed the best operation, and it is value-neutral. It is based on each consumer's and producer's preferences (the demand curve and supply curve). Instead, VCE Economics focuses on "Australian economic objectives," things that are not necessarily welfare maximising, and things that first-year economic students didn't need to care about. It basically trains you to be a central planner - "how can I tweak the economy to maximise the well-being of Australians?" - it requires you to make value-based decisions on behalf of every other Australian.

Eriny:

--- Quote from: Eriny on October 06, 2008, 07:13:30 pm ---These debates have been going on for ages and frankly, it's a good thing that younger students are able to engage with them.

--- End quote ---
The only problem is they aren't taught the fundamental tools that actually allow you to analyze whether one arrangement is more "efficient" than another. I think it is way to suspicious that they ask you many questions about "market failure" but hardly any on government failure and of how government intervention can reduce total welfare.
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Oh, but they do. I remember having to memorise a list of all the times government policy has failed. It didn't come up on the '07 exam, but it has in earlier years. Questions like 'how successful...?' come up. Further, there is a big emphasis on the greatness wonder that is micro reform.

There are questions about the market mechanism and so on, but its almost always applied to a real situation, hence its macro tendencies (micro is more unit 1/2).  I have a friend who did micro at uni after doing high school economics and found it all really easy with only little bits of new material here and there and more maths.

3/4 VCE economics is really just 'Australian Economics'. It identifies the 6 economic goals the government has named and then gets students to analyse how these goals are affected by different things happening in the world. If there is a fault in the subject, start with that, don't waste your time by shouting "bias".

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