Topics in the History of Economics
Program and Readings
2017 Summer Institute
Topics in the History of Economics
-The structure is the same both weeks. There are 2 sessions a day, Monday through Thursday, and a final morning session on Friday. The sessions are 2 hours long. The morning sessions are from 9:30-11:30 am, and the afternoon sessions are from 2:00-4:00 pm. There will be a short break (5-10 minutes) half way through each session.
-The two weeks will be set up differently. During the first week, Bruce will be the sole lecturer. He will present a mini-history of economics survey course, providing content and also discussing how to set up and teach such a course. Because there is a lot of material, we may extend each session as needed to make sure we are able to cover it all. It is essential for students to get a good start on reading the material before coming to Duke.
-During the second week, Kevin and Steve will be the main lecturers, and they will split the first (Monday morning) session.
-Steve will then present a series of lectures in the mornings on the development of market failure analysis from Smith through Coase, and end with a session Thursday afternoon on the Chicago School.
-For his one hour on Monday morning, and during the afternoons on Monday through Wednesday, Kevin will “flip the classroom.” You will be assigned videos to watch and a set of readings for each session. The sessions will then be devoted to discussing issues raised in the videos and readings. The Monday morning session has one video assigned to it, and each of the remaining sessions has 2 videos assigned, so that each video will have one hour of class time for discussion. Students should prepare a couple of questions for each session that can be used to generate discussion.
-The final session of week 2 on Friday will be run by Bruce and, in the first hour, will cover Hayek. You will have readings and a video to watch, and class time will be devoted to discussion. The second hour will be a feedback session, where you can let Bruce know your reactions to the SI.
Sunday June 4
3 pm-6 pm Participants check into hotel
6:30 pm, Welcome Dinner, at The Center for the History of Political Economy, Social Sciences Building
WEEK ONE (June 5-9)
Monday June 5:
Session 1 – Introductions of Program and Participants; Tips on Setting Up a History of Thought Course – Caldwell
Session 2 – Scholasticism, Mercantilism and Physiocracy – Caldwell
Supplementary Reading: Robert Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers (6th. Ed., New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986), chapters 1 & 2. A nice intro to the Economic Revolution that spawned more systematic thinking about economics.
Lars Magnusson, Mercantilism: The Shaping of Economic Language. London: Routledge, 1994, especially chapters 1 & 2. The historiography of mercantilism.
Tuesday June 6:
Session 3 – The Scottish Enlightenment and Adam Smith – Caldwell
Session 4 – More on Smith; a Quick Look at Malthus and Ricardo – Caldwell
Supplementary Reading: George Stigler, “Ricardo and the 93 Per Cent Labor Theory of Value,” in Essays in the History of Economics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), pp. 326-42.
Wednesday June 7:
Sessions 5 and 6 – Marx – Caldwell
From Robert Tucker, The Marx-Engels Reader. NY: Norton, 1978.
Thursday June 8:
Session 7 – Marginalism, and the Methodenstreit – Caldwell
Supplementary Reading: E. Roy Weintraub, “Burn the Mathematics (Tripos),” How Economics Became a Mathematical Science (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002), chapter 1.
Caldwell, Hayek’s Challenge, chapters 2-5.
Session 8 – Marshall, American Institutionalism, and Schumpeter – Caldwell
Supplementary Reading, Veblen, Theory of the Leisure Class, chapters 3-4, in M&S, pp. 650-75.
7:05, Durham Bulls Baseball Game, Durham Bulls Stadium
Friday June 9:
Session 9 – Keynes – Caldwell
11:30am – 2pm, Participants who are leaving after Week 1, check out of hotel and depart
Sunday, June 11:
2-6 pm, Week 2 participants arrive and register at hotel
WEEK TWO (June 12 to 16)
Monday June 12:
Session 10 – Adam Smith and the Classical Roots of Market Failure Analysis – Steve Medema (1st hour)
The Background to Modern Macroeconomics (before the 1930s) – Kevin Hoover (2nd hour; discuss video)
Supplementary Reading: Irving Fisher, The Purchasing Power of Money (1911), ch. 3.
David Laidler, Fabricating the Keynesian Revolution, ch. 5 (pp. 105-116).
Session 11– Will Cover the Following 2 Video Lectures – Class time will be devoted to discussion
The Great Depression: Keynes and His Critics (the 1930s) – Hoover
Supplementary Reading: David Laidler, Fabricating the Keynesian Revolution, ch. 2.
J.R. Hicks, “Mr. Keynes and the Classics,” in Critical Essays in Monetary Theory.
Macroeconometrics and the New Economics (1930-1950) – Hoover
Supplementary Reading: Frisch, Ragnar, “Propagation Problems and Impulse Problems in Dynamic Economics,” in Economic Essays in Honor of Gustav Cassel, (pp. 171-205).
Lawrence Klein, The Keynesian Revolution, (pp. 56-90, 165-187).
Lerner, Abba, “Functional Finance and the Federal Debt,” Social Research 10(1), 1943, (pp. 468-478).
Tuesday June 13:
Session 12 – The Growth of Market Failure analysis: Utilitarian and Neoclassical Influences – Medema
Session 13 – Will Cover the Following Video Lectures – Class time will be devoted to discussion
The Empirical Microfoundations of Macroeconomics (1945-1970) – Hoover (video)
Supplementary Reading: Milton Friedman. (1957) A Theory of the Consumption Function, (pp. 3-7, 20-37).
The Problem of Inflation (1950-1970) – Kevin Hoover (video)
Supplementary Reading: James Forder, “The Historical Place of the 'Friedman-Phelps' Expectations Critique,” European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 17(3), 2010, (pp. 493-511).
Wednesday June 14:
Session 14 – The Virginia-Chicago Challenge – Medema
Session 15 – Will Cover the Following Video Lectures – Class time will be devoted to discussion
The Monetarist Counter-Revolution (1955-1975) – Kevin Hoover (video)
Supplementary Reading: James Tobin, “The Monetarist Counter-Revolution Today – an Appraisal,” Economic Journal, 91(361), March 1981, pp. 29-42.
J. Daniel Hammond, Theory and Measurement: Causality Issues in Milton Friedman's Monetary Economics, (pp. 124-139).
New Classicals and New Keynesians (1970-1985) – Kevin Hoover (video)
Supplementary Reading: Kevin D. Hoover and Warren Young, Rational Expectations: Retrospect and Prospect: A Panel Discussion with Michael Lovell, Robert Lucas, Dale Mortensen, Robert Shiller, and Neil Wallace,” Macroeconomic Dynamics, 17, 2013. pp. 1169–1192.
4:00pm – Visit David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Thursday June 15:
Session 16 – The Coase Theorem Controversy – Medema
Session 17 – The Chicago School – Medema
Supplementary Reading: Edmund W. Kitch, “The Fire of Truth: A Remembrance of Law and Economics at Chicago, 1932-1970,” Journal of Law and Economics 26 (April 1983): 163-234.
6:30 pm, Closing Dinner at Devil's Krafthouse, West Union Building Basement
Friday June 16:
Session 18 – F. A. Hayek, His Life and Ideas – Bruce Caldwell (video)
The final hour of Session 18 will be a Summer Institute Wrap-Up – no readings.
Participants check out of hotel and depart