ELON COLLEGE – Students at Elon College now have a new way to learn about economics.
Elon and Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., have taken over publication of “Issues in Political Economy,” a journal that is written and edited entirely by undergraduate students. It is distributed annually to economics departments at colleges and universities nationwide.
The nine-year-old journal had been published by Bellarmine College in Louisville, Ky., where the journal’s founder, Bradley Hobbs, was an economics professor. When Hobbs accepted a position at another university the future of the publication was in doubt. Earlier this year, Jim Barbour, professor of economics at Elon, and his colleagues at Mary Washington College agreed that the two colleges would publish the journal.
The first edition of the journal edited by the two colleges was published this summer. The 84-page paperback features articles written by Elon students, as well as students at Mary Washington, Appalachian State University, Southwest Missouri State University and Babson College. Topics included organic agriculture, the political economy of the tobacco industry and the stock market.
Students from the two colleges wrote articles, reviewed them and also served as the editors. Submissions must pertain to some aspect of economics, be written during undergraduate study and submitted through a faculty sponsor.
The students, who receive no compensation or course credit for their work on the journal, did an outstanding job, said Tina Das and Steve DeLoach, assistant professors of economics at Elon who serve as the journal’s faculty sponsors.
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