Political economy in Greater Western Sydney

A 2012 national survey of the economics curriculum in Australia noted that there were two centres of economics teaching that are explicitly and significantly pluralist. The first is the Political Economy program at the University of Sydney. The second is the Economics and Finance Program at the University of Western Sydney. The case of Sydney University is well documented (Butler, Jones and Stilwell 2009), but the UWS case is not so well known. Yet UWS has its own distinctive story that offers instructive lessons to those interested in a more pluralist economics curriculum. UWS developed a political economy/economics program that was highly rated in both teaching and research outcomes but was suddenly and disappointingly derailed by senior management. This article, written from an insider's perspective, chronicles this episode and raises broader issues about the future of political economy and economics more generally in the current system of university governance and the current policy environment for tertiary education.