The Currie-Daza debate and the institutionalization of teaching Economics in the National University of Colombia

Abstract

The process of institutionalization of economic programs in the country involves, among other things, defining their administrative organization, establishing objects of study and justifying their relevance. The purpose of this article is to analyze the process of institutionalization of the teaching of economics as an undergraduate academic program within the National University of Colombia and, based on the debate between two important directors of the programs in the early sixties of the twentieth century, Álvaro Daza Roa and Lauchlin Currie, who defended two different, and practically antagonistic, views of economics. The first refers to the economy as a mechanism that must be studied quantitatively and whose purpose is private gain; Currie, on the other hand, conceives the economy as an organism that deserves a mainly qualitative study and that it must be oriented to improve the material well-being of the community. It is hoped that this document will contribute to an understanding of the historical importance of the debates surrounding the teaching of economics.