Published Date

3

May 2010
Monday

The Economics Department organized a seminar on the Poverty in Research Methodology in Economics

The Economics Department organized a seminar on the Poverty in Research Methodology in Economics

The Economics Department organized a seminar on the Poverty in Research Methodology in Economics

The Economics Department organized a seminar on the 28th of April 2010 titled “Poverty in Research Methodology in Economics – A Case against Mono Dimensional Perspective.” The  topic was presented by Professor Dr. Viktor Jakupec who is a professor of Economics at Potsdam University, Germany. Professor Jacupec is currently in Bangladesh as International Consultant and Deputy Team Leader for an ADB funded project relating to Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education. Professor Jakupec began by asking why all the economic think tanks across the world couldn’t predict the recent Financial Crisis, and blames it on a Mono Dimensional world view. He continued to emphasize that there is no perfect model for research and that no particular research is set in stone. According to Dr. Jakupec, most research is Mono Dimensional and therefore carries certain cultural and philosophical biases. He discussed the differences between Methodology, Methods and Techniques and elaborated on further terminology used in Research pointing out that there are many reasons why research may be flawed and therefore not be considered knowledge or truth unless a multi dimensional approach is used. Interestingly, we discovered from the presentation that famous Economists such as Adam Smith and Karl Marx did not actually study Economics at all, but they came from other disciplines such as Mathematics and Philosophy and this multidimensional perspective might have been the reason for the success of their economic theories. In all, the presentation was very informative and it challenged the way that we think about research and publications. The seminar concluded with a Q&A session where Dr. Ahmad Neaz particularly brought up some interesting points for discussion. The MBA students who attended found the seminar to be very insightful and inspirational. The seminar was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Dr. Tazul Islam, the MBA Director Mr. Ehsanul Huda Chowdhury, the Head, Department of Economics  Dr. Mizanul Haque Kazal and all the faculties of the Economics Department along with MBA students from selective classes.