Syllabus
Economics 402b, Fall 2015 semester Dr. Steve Sullivan
History of Economic Thought Office: Main Building 105
TF 14:15 – 15:35 Telephone: 888-410
Room: BAC 202 Office Hrs: F 14:00 – 17:00
ATTENTION: This course is NOT “Economic History”. It does not carry any General Education credit. It’s not going to do so. Don’t ask.
Course Description:
This course examines the evolution of economics both as a body of knowledge and as an academic discipline. The history of economic thinking will be traced from ancient civilization to the modern era, and the discipline of economics will be examined from the perspective of historical thinkers from philosophical, moral, political, social, and technical perspectives. The topics of ancient economic thought as well as the doctrines of Mercantilism, Classical Economics, Socialism, Marxism, and Neo-Classicism will be discussed.
Learning Outcomes:
The learning outcomes for the Economics major are:
· analyze social phenomena in the context of their interrelationships with economic outcomes
· use appropriate graphical or statistical analysis to demonstrate the effects of changes in significant variables to economic outcomes
· analyze and predict the effect of changes in economic variables on related variables within the context of a coherent interrelated economic model
· analyze how the markets function, how they allocate real and financial resources, and when they may fail to function properly
· explain in written and in oral form the reasoning and application of economic analysis to social or political issues.
This course promotes these outcomes by:
· studying the development and application of various modes of economic thinking to social phenomena at different times and places
· demonstrating the logic and outcomes of different economic models using graphical analysis
· analyzing the effects of changes in economic models within the contexts of different economic models developed throughout the history of economic thinking
· exploring the analysis of the functioning of markets through the study of different economic thinkers
· using written analysis to explain the reasoning and application of specific economic thinkers to economic, political, or social issues.
Why This Course is Interesting:
History of Economic Thought is like anchovies. If you like them, you don’t want a pizza without them. If you don’t like them, you don’t want to see them. I think the material in this course is fascinating for several different reasons.
First, there is a pre-disposition to think that whatever we think/know/believe/do today must be much more advanced, more sophisticated, more correct than anything from the past. That’s because we believe in progress. It’s something of a shock to read and consider something from the distant past and realize how good it really is, and that the point this person is making is still worth considering –even though it might not agree with our current conventional thinking.
Second, I get a kick out of hearing about an issue directly from the “voice” of the person who first thought about it and first came up with a compelling explanation. It’s like having friends who are really smart.
Third, your economics professors in all your other courses are in a hurry. They want to bring you as fully up-to-speed as they can with where the thinking of the profession is now. (And your professors were also taught by other professors who were also in a hurry. They don’t know any other way.) If your progress in learning economics is like stepping over a series of stones to cross a river, your other courses hurry you across the stones, but this course examines the stones. What happens if we don’t assume that everyone is rational and maximizes a utility function? What happens if we don’t believe that the goal of human activity is to maximize an individual’s sense of his/her own well-being?
This course allows you to examine questions that the rest of economics never asks.
Text:
Ekelund, Robert B., and Hebert, Robert F., A History of Economic Theory and Method, 4th edition; McGraw Hill, 1990. I own 2 copies that I purchased from the AUBG Bookstore a few years ago from their discount shelf. I will put these on reserve in the AUBG Library. This text is background material to help connect and interpret different ideas and thinkers.
If you are ambitious, you may also want to consult Blaug, Mark, Economic Theory in Retrospect; Cambridge University Press, 1992 (available in the AUBG Library). This latter book was once described to me as “the Bible” of History of Economic Thought.
Most of this course will be based on readings of original historical works. Throughout the semester, readings from original sources will be assigned. These are available for free, online, without breaking any laws since copyrights have expired long ago. A particularly good resource is the McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought (http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/). A good source for the ancient works is the Perseus Collection of Greek and Roman Materials (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman).
Details of required readings from original sources will be distributed throughout the semester.
Course Requirements:
Students will be examined on their knowledge of material from assigned reading and lectures on a mid-term exam and a final exam.
Furthermore, students will be required to write two original research papers investigating in depth the work of one particular thinker or group of thinkers, or on the historical development or importance of economic thinking on some particular issue or problem. Prior to writing each paper, approval for the student's topic must be received through the submission of a paper proposal which specifies the topic and sources the student intends to use. Detailed instructions for the proposal and paper will be distributed near the beginning of the semester.
This is not a writing-intensive course, but it is a reading-intensive course and a thinking-intensive course. Each of the term papers must be a minimum of 5 pages, and should not exceed 8 pages. Failure to be within this range shows an inability to choose a topic appropriate to the assignment.
The learning outcome of the course is to broaden the student’s understanding of how economics has been understood, and to expose the student to some of the alternatives to the mainstream economic theory that prevails today. Despite the skillful lecture style of the instructor, the desired learning outcome cannot be accomplished if the student does not read the actual work. Throughout the semester, reading assignments will be accompanied by “study-note” assignments which ask the student to reflect on the meaning of the assigned reading and unannounced “one-question” quizzes which will ask students to address one straight-forward question from the most recent reading assignment. (The goal is to see if the student actually read the material.)
Grade Determination:
Students' grades will be determined in the following manner, which is not open to negotiation, and especially not open to negotiation after any of the various elements have been determined.
Paper 1 Proposal Due no later than Tuesday, October 6 3%
Mid-Term Exam Friday, October 23: in class 20%
Term Paper 1 Due no later than Tuesday, October 27 15%
Paper 2 Proposal Due no later than Tuesday, Novermber 17 3%
Term Paper 2 Due no later than Friday, December 4 15%
Final Exam According to final exam schedule 20%
Study Note Assignments
and Quizzes Several, throughout the semester 20%
Critiques following the first papers 4%
The term papers (including the proposals) contribute substantially to the student's grade, and each student is expected to be working to develop both the proposals and the papers over the entire semester. The papers are graded on content, and also on structure, grammar, organization, and persuasiveness. Students are allowed and encouraged to submit either or both ahead of the final deadline with no penalty; and may if they choose resubmit either for re-grading, as long as the resubmission occurs prior to the final deadline.
Any short-term illness, incapacity, family crisis, or computer malfunction would have no bearing on the student's ability to meet the deadline for submission, unless the student has chosen to put himself or herself at risk of such an event by postponing work until shortly before the deadline. The risk of such a course of action is entirely born by the student. No excuse is valid for late submission of either the proposal or term paper. The penalty for late submission of the proposal or paper is 10% of the possible credit for day or part of a day that the university is in session. “Late” is defined as any time after the beginning of class on the date the proposal or paper is due.
Exams will consist partly of short answer questions to determine understanding of key terms and concepts encountered during our study, and longer essay questions that will require students to analyze issues in greater detail.
The use of pop quizzes is to encourage the habit of preparation and class attendance. Each quiz will consist of a small number of questions (sometimes only one) easily answered by any student who has done the assigned reading. No make-ups will be given for pop quizzes. The lowest 2 quiz scores will be dropped. I think this makes adequate allowance for anyone taken ill on a particular day, or unable to attend class on a day, or simply forgetting to do one reading for one particular day.
Following the first paper, each student will be sent 2 papers written by other students in the class to evaluate, as if the student were grading the paper, using the same grading rubric as I use for the term papers. Written comments on the paper must be delivered back to me, which will then be forwarded (anonymously) to the paper author as part of the overall feedback. Critiques are graded according to the completeness and usefulness of the evaluative comments.
Semester Outline:
Topic Readings
Intro lecture Why history of thought? Blaug, “No History of Ideas, Please…”; E & H Ch. 1
Week 2 The Ancients Plato, Aristotle; E&H Ch 2
Week 3 Scholastics to the Mercantilists E&H Ch 3, 4
Week 4 Physiocrats and Cantillon Quesnay, Cantillon; E&H 4
Week 5 Birth of Classical Economics Mandeville, Smith; E&H 5
Week 6 Wealth of Nations Smith
Week 7 Ricardo Ricardo; E&H 7
Week 8 More from the Classical School Malthus, Nassau Sr.; E&H 6, 9
Week 9 John Stuart Mill J. S. Mill; E&H 8
Week 10 Marx Marx; E&H 10
Week 11 Birth of Microeconomics E&H 12, 13, 14
Week 12 Alfred Marshall Marshall; E&H 15
Week 13 The 20th century: Institutional Economics, Keynes, and beyond
Veblen, Hicks, E&H 17, 18