The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Content of Twelve Bestselling US Principles of Economics Textbooks: – Cosmetic or Real Changes?

How have authors of twelve bestselling introductory US textbooks in economics responded to the traumatizing financial crisis? In general the financial crisis is described with a couple of lines here and there or it is dealt with in boxes, separate sections, or specific isolated chapters. Some of the textbooks distinguish themselves by also having made some modest qualitative changes of content as a reaction to the financial crisis (especially Colander 2010 and Krugman and Wells 2013). Applying my general analysis of the changes being made already in the twelve textbooks seen as a whole, I discuss how any introductory textbook could integrate the financial crisis more adequately into the general presentation, thereby hopefully contributing to enhancing the interest of the students.