The Story Behind the Economics: Providing Context by Using Story-telling to Illustrate Economic Theory

Abstract

Using the art of narrative to tell a story can be helpful when students become overwhelmed with mastering the technical aspects of economic theory and have a hard time ‘finding the forest for the trees’. This paper reviews recent critiques of economics that have some leading voices in the discipline advocating for broader perspectives which incorporate both the content and methodology of other disciplines. Building on this argument, the paper will discuss two narrative assignments that the author regularly uses in a class on international trade and finance.