Recession Humanities

Patricia Cohen in today's New York Times presents an interesting sketch of the economics of the humanities in a time of recession.

Cohen includes a link to the Humanities Indicators Prototype of the Humanities Resource Center Online, a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Difficult economic times often produce stresses on enrollment and employment in the humanities, followed by calls for a rhetoric to justify what studying the humanities, or the liberal arts more broadly, are worth when times are tough. Cohen's article is a useful prompt, and it is followed in the Times by some interesting and thoughtful reader comments.


Patricia Cohen, "In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth," New York Times, 24 February 2009.