The Financial Crisis and Principles of Economics Textbooks

How have authors of widely used U.S. introductory economics textbooks responded to the traumatizing financial crisis? The answer interests textbook authors as well as the users. An encompassing quantitative and qualitative text analysis that applies new methods demonstrates that in general, the
financial crisis is described in a few sporadically added lines or is dealt with in boxes, separate sections, or specific isolated chapters. This is no great surprise, as it would be a monumental task to change textbooks significantly in the short run. Yet the analysis also indicates small, innovative changes already being made that could inspire future editions. Against this background, the author discusses how any introductory textbook could integrate the financial crisis more adequately into the general presentation, thereby enhancing students’ interest.