Course examines the Austrian tradition in economics, with special attention to the contributions of Hayek. Readings includes portions of Menger's Principles and Investigations, Hayek's Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle and Individualism and Economic Order, and Mises's Human Action, among others. Syllabus contains a list of possible paper topics.
Course examines a number of classic economic works and considers their relationship to the wider society. Begins with the mercantilists and ends with Hayek. This class was designed for first-year students who were not necessarily expected to have had any economics before. The course could also be used as a survey course.
This course engages the history of economics in that it identifies "styles" of doing economics that have historical roots, from the philosophical/theological style of Aristotle and Aquinas to the modern core found in textbooks such as that by Mas-Colell, Whinston, and Green. The course examines different segments of society--the media, government, the economics discipline itself, among others--and observes how economics is used in those segments and to what extent one or more of the styles are present. The syllabus contains detailed instructions for the writing assignments, including a long list of prompts designed to help students select an appropriate paper topic.
This course is organized thematically rather than chronologically. It considers such topics as the influence of commerce, cooperation, money, and trade. Most readings center around classical figures, especially Adam Smith, although several present-day sources are read as well.
Course uses the techniques and materials of science studies to understand modern economic practices. Readings are from Mario Bagioli's Science Studies Reader, supplemented with additional readings. Topics include facts and theories, belief and evidence, scientific communities, and constructing scientific truth, among others.
Course examines the ongoing work of living economists. Course topics include economics imperialism, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, and experimental economics, as well as well-being and happiness.
With a focus on the Bloomsbury group, among whose members were John Maynard Keynes and Virginia Woolf, this course encourages students to reflect on the discipline of economics itself. What are its values? What questions does it address? How does it operate and interact with other disciplines? Syllabus includes an annotated list of members of the Bloomsbury group and detailed instructions for writing assignments. Readings consist of works by members of the Bloomsbury group.
This course, which is taught in a seminar format, examines what economists do when the investigate the economy. Primary-source readings are from John Stuart Mill, John Neville Keynes, and Milton Friedman, as well as Karl Popper, Imre Lakatos, and Thomas Kuhn. Topics include classical contributions to economic methdology, Friedman and positive economics, and Popper and falsificationism. Syllabus includes a list of prompts for papers and a list of secondary readings.
Focuses on the evolution of economics in the twentieth century, with particular attention on the ways in which difference practices in the first part of the century were continued or abandoned to create what passes today for mainstream economic practice. Class project is the construction of a serious intellectual biography of Martin Bronfenbrenner. Topics include historiography, English economic thought, the development of American economics, Keynes and revolution, economics and World War II, neoliberalism, and several others.
Surveys and evaluates different understandings of the "politics of economics." How have economists and their intellectual products become influential in our democracies? Readings are recent--most are from the 2000s--and are from an interdisciplinary range of writers and thinkers. Course themes include war, freedom, and identity.