Stephen G. Marks and Michael G. Rukstad

We should teach macroeconomics by the case method. We need not teach
cases exclusively. Indeed, we do not advocate abandoning the teaching of theo-
ry, of models, of principles. But if we deny students the richness of cases, we do
them, and the macroeconomics profession, a great disservice. We do them a dis-
service because we withhold knowledge that only cases can convey. We do them
a disservice because we withhold skills that most students could use in favor of
skills most will never use. We do them a disservice because we present econom-
ics as dull, dismal, and lifeless when it demands attention, grabs headlines, and
profoundly inspires both our history and our everyday life.

These comments reflect impressions and intuitions drawn from our experience
teaching by the case method.¹ We hope to convince the profession that the meth-
od merits studying, researching, and even trying.²

Often, teachers evaluate pedagogy by referring to principles or rules. (We use
the terms principle and rule interchangeably here.) A principle expresses a rela-
tionship such as: "If A, then B" or "if and only if A, then B" or "if A, then B with
probability P," and so forth. We can express principles in English (or in Russian,
for that matter) or mathematically. The Keynesian multiplier, a principle by our
definition, says that if government increases spending by X, then national income
increase by mX. Particularly compelling principles become laws, such as the law
of demand: If price increases by X, then quantity demanded decreases by bX.

Can cases teach and illustrate principles? Yes. However, this focus on princi-
ples ignores a fundamental feature of cases. Cases convey information about re-
lationships that principles cannot. We begin with some noneconomic illustra-
tions of this idea.

1. A four-year-old child has just learned a new word, magenta. Suppose the
child wants to tell another what magenta means. The child has no principle that,
when transmitted to another child, conveys the meaning of magenta. (An adult
scientist may describe the color, magenta, in terms of a range of wavelengths of

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