Economics--A Journey of the Heart as Well as the Mind?

Students want their universities to help them answer the question, "What's my life's purpose?" Are public universities equipped to do that? More specifically, can economics classes help students meet this need?

First, let's be specific. UCLA surveyed 112,000 students on 236 campuses and found that 67 percent of first-year students believe it is essential or very important that their school help develop their personal values. The survey also found that 48 percent of them would like their school to encourage the personal expression of their spirituality.

No one should interpret these survey results as suggesting that students want to be preached to. Furthermore, the survey tells us that it's their own "personal values" that students feel need further development, not the values of organized religion.

Economics as it is presented in the typical Economics 101 textbook would appear to be totally disconnected to spiritual needs. At first glance, it's hard to inject an interpretation of spirituality into topics such as demand and supply, monopoly and antitrust, and money and inflation. Furthermore, instructors might find themselves feeling a wee bit uncomfortable trying to supply spiritual interpretations or insights. But, let's take a second look and see if these thoughts hold up under scrutiny.

An introductory economics class is a good place to explore career choices, as part of a discussion of labor economics. Typically, that exploration will involve looking at markets for different occupations and observing how demand and supply influence earnings. However, everyone recognizes that intangibles play a huge role in occupational choice. Might there not be a spiritual aspect to the choice of teaching as a career, for example? In fact, wouldn't a consideration of the intangibles provide a worthwhile relaxation of the ceteris paribus clause?

Business ethics opens a Pandora's box of opportunities for discussing personal values. It's hard to picture an economics class so abstract and theoretical that current corporate scandals are ignored. Thus, ethical issues of business as part of the study of the firm can easily be brought into Economics 101.

If students demand help with issues relating to personal values, shouldn't instructors make the effort to supply a framework grounded in economic principles that will help them?