| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology / Department of Humanities & Social Sciences / K. Christ |
| IA353: History of Economic Thought |
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| This course surveys the history of economic thought by exploring secondary and original source material from historical, methodological and rhetorical points of view. |
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Click here for a
syllabus for Spring 2012.
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Click here for K. Christ's homepage |
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Sources / Links:
History of Economic Thought at New School (The best place to find information on economists, alive and otherwise.)
McMaster University Archive (Excellent archive of online historical texts in economics.)
The Online Library of Liberty (The Liberty Fund) (Another excellent archive of online historical texts in economics and political science.)
Philosophy on the EServer (Excellent archive of online philosophical texts. Look here for Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, etc.)
Roy's History of Economic Thought Page
William Barber, A History of Economic Thought
Transparencies / Slides used in class:
Course Schedule, Spring 2011
| Week | Date | Topic | Readings / Links |
| 1 | March 5 | Introduction | Sandmo, chapter 1; Backhouse, chapter 1 |
| March 6 | Precursors to systematic economic thought | Sandmo, 2 | |
| March 8 | Readings discussion 1: Ancient texts |
Genesis, chapter 41;
Leviticus, chapter 25 Aristotle, Ethics, Book 5, chapters 3 - 5; Politics, Book 1, chapters 3 - 10 Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part: Q66 Article 1; Q66, Article 2; Q77, Article 1; Q78, All 4 articles. |
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| March 9 | Reading groups - organizational | ||
| 2 | March 12 |
The "great gap" and the "great
transformation" Mercantilism, the Physiocrats, early social science |
Sandmo, chapter 2 (pp 18+) |
| March 13 | Adam Smith | Sandmo, chapter 3 | |
| March 15 | Content Quiz 1 Readings discussion 2: Pre-classical economics and Smith |
Mandeville,
The Grumbling Hive Mun, England's Treasure by Foreign Trade, chapters 2 - 4 Locke, "Of Property", from Two Treatises on Government |
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| March 16 | Reading groups | ||
| 3 | March 19 | Classical Economics: Ricardo, Malthus, Mill | Sandmo, chapters 4 and 5 |
| March 20 | Karl Marx | Sandmo, chapter 6 | |
| March 22 | Readings discussion 3: Smith, Ricardo, Mill, Marx |
Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapters 4 - 5 Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book 3: chapters 1, 2, 14; Book 4: chapter 6Marx, The Communist Manifesto Marx, selections from Das Kapital |
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| March 23 | In-class writing 1 |
Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapters 4
- 5 Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book 3: chapters 1, 2, 14; Book 4: chapter 6 |
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| 4 | March 26 | Marginalism and neoclassical economics | Sandmo, chapters 7 to 9 |
| March 27 | Welfare economics | Sandmo, chapters 10 to 12; Wikipedia: Edgeworth-Bowley Box | |
| March 29 | Content Quiz 2 Readings discussion 4: Marginalism |
Jevons, selections from
The Theory of Political Economy Marshall, "The Present Position of Economics" and selections from The Principles of Economics Clark, TBD |
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| March 30 | Reading groups | ||
| 5 | April 9 | Alternative views | Sandmo, chapter 13 |
| April 10 | The Systems Debate | Sandmo, chapter 14 | |
| April 12 | Readings discussion 7: Institutionalism, Socialist calculation debate | Veblen,
"The Limitations of
Marginal Utility" Hayek, The Road to Serfdom: chapter 4 [condensed version, pp 39+] |
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| April 13 | In-class writing 2 | ||
| 6 | April 16 | Keynes and Keynesianism | Sandmo, chapter 15 |
| April 17 | The Keynesian crisis and modern macroeconomics | Edmund Phelps, "Our Uncertain Economy," Wall Street Journal, 14 March 2008 | |
| April 19 | Content Quiz 3 Readings discussion 6: Keynes and Keynesianism |
Keynes,
"The end of
laissez-faire", and selections from
The General Theory "A Stimulating Notion," The Economist, February 16, 2008 Selections from Samuelson, Economics -- An Introductory Analysis [Handout] |
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| April 20 | Reading Groups | ||
| 7 | April 23 | Empirical advances, Econometrics | Sandmo, chapter 16 |
| April 24 | Formalism, Finance, and GE | Sandmo, chapter 17; Bachkhouse, chapters 6 and 7 | |
| April 26 | Readings discussion 7: Macro Crisis and Formalism |
Lucas, "Econometric Policy Evaluation: A Critique"
Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values Debreu, Theory of Value |
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| April 27 | In-class writing 3 | Sample annotated outline | |
| 8 | April 30 | Current Trends in Economics | Sandmo, chapters 18 and 19; Backhouse, chapters 8 to 10 |
| May 1 | Philosophy of science and economics | Wikipedia Portal: Philosophy of Science | |
| May 3 | Content Quiz 4 Readings discussion 8: Methodology |
Friedman,
"The Methodology of
Positive Economics" McCloskey, "The Rhetoric of Economics" Journal of Economic Literature 21:2 (March 1987), 481 -- 517. Available vis JSTOR through the Logan Library research databases |
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| May 4 | Reading groups | ||
| 9 | May 7 | Reading group presentation | |
| May 8 | Reading group presentation | ||
| May 10 | Reading group presentation | ||
| May 11 | Reading group presentation | ||
| 10 | May 14 | Reading group presentation | |
| May 15 | Reading group presentation | ||
| May 17 | Reading group presentation | ||
| May 18 | Reading group presentation |