Economie : la mutation nécessaire d'une discipline

Research and teaching in economics have been characterised by a real institutionalisation, meaning that they more and more obey to established values and norms. As a consequence, technical criteria are becoming dominant in the selection process of the scholars. But also, a divorce appears between the two functions ? research and teaching. This may be responsible for the lack of interest in economics by a large fraction of the students and hence for a low level of culture in economics among the future managers. However economics is a fundamental discipline, which help understanding how social systems are working. Therefore a dramatic revision of the organisation of training courses is unavoidable. In the French context, this implies to clearly distinguish between undergraduate and graduate studies, the former should be multidisciplinary and the latter should focus on the core of the discipline and on the required quantitative methods. Moreover, the new institutional environment, mainly characterised by the autonomy of universities, should give the means for to the necessary diversification of research interests and paradigms that will favour the development of the discipline and a better articulation between research and teaching.