CORE – Departmental Approaches to Decolonising Economics

Building on our exploration of practical examples of decolonising economics teaching, we look at a unique approach to introductory economics called CORE (www.core-econ.org).

CORE is a free online set of texts and resources that incorporates a number of the practical ideas sketched in previous steps.

In particular, the economics in CORE is heavily oriented towards empirical applications to various economies across the globe and it situates economics within insights from history and other social sciences. It also has a strong focus on inequality, the environment and the implications of power for economic outcomes.

Many universities across the world have used this set of texts and and resources to begin a departmental-wide reconfiguration of their degree programmes in economics. Because CORE is intended to completely replace foundational courses in economics, it may be seen as a practical first step to begin building decolonial approaches throughout the curriculum. For a full implementation, the methods and approaches of CORE would need to be replicated in the more advanced years of an undergraduate programme.

Watch the video above to identify key features CORE that could facilitate decolonising practices in economics teaching.