Poder y Saber: Genealogía del Pensamiento Económico y la Enseñanza de la Economía Durante las Reformas Neoliberales en Colombia.

Abstract

This research focuses on unveiling the relationship between power and knowledge existing in economic thought and the teaching of economics in Colombia during the period of implementation of neoliberal reforms. This objective is developed through a systematic literature review, applying the hermeneutic and genealogical methodological approaches in the framework of a process tracing analysis strategy with a deductive input that seeks to arrive at causal inferences with the intention of identifying how the frameworks that allowed the implementation of neoliberal reforms were structured, their academic and public trajectories and the way in which they structured a technocratic discourse with pretensions of truth, of technical, responsible knowledge, which is self-recognized as legitimate to design economic policy in Colombia. The results show that the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad de los Andes, together with the think tanks FEDESARROLLO and ANIF, have consolidated a hegemony in the field of economic thought in Colombia and have constituted a circle of power in the formulation of economic policies in the country, limiting the debate and discussion around economic alternatives and development models that can be more inclusive and sustainable in the long term. The cadres have played an important role in the training of new generations of economists, through their participation in the development of curricula and the direction of undergraduate and graduate theses in many of the country's economics programs, contributing to the homogenization of the teaching of economics, the mathematization of the economic discipline and the use and abuse of textbooks. Finally, the values of the neoliberal generation have been transferred to the educational field, through the concept of quality and scient metrics, which has become a tool for controlling and disciplining the academic body. This situation requires modifying classroom practices to contribute to the consolidation of alternatives that allow fostering a plural and critical view of economics, promoting the analysis of the social and environmental impacts of economic policies, encouraging research in critical and alternative economics and integrating the teaching of economics with other disciplines.