| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology / Department of Humanities & Social Sciences / K. Christ |
| IA353: History of Economic Thought |
|
| This course surveys the history of economic thought by exploring secondary and original source material from historical, methodological and rhetorical points of view. |
|
|
|
|
Click here for a
syllabus for Spring 2014
|
|
|
|
Click here for K. Christ's homepage |
|
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.)
Udayan Roy's History of Economic Thought Page (Excellent archive of online HET texts.)
Transparencies / Slides used in class:
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 |
Course Schedule, Spring 2014
| Week | Date | Topic | Readings / Links |
| 1 | March 10 | Introduction | Sandmo, chapter 1 |
| March 11 | Ancient Speculations | Sandmo, 2, pp 1 - 18; Hausman, pp 28 - 37 | |
| March 13 | Readings discussion: 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. |
|
| March 14 | The "great gap" and the "great transformation" |
Sandmo, chapter 2 (pp 18+) |
|
| 2 | March 17 | Readings discussion: Precursors to Classical economics |
Mandeville,
The Grumbling Hive Mun, England's Treasure by Foreign Trade, chapters 2 - 4 Locke, "Of Property", from Two Treatises on Government Quesnay, Tableau Economique |
| March 18 | Adam Smith | Sandmo, chapter 3 | |
| March 20 | Readings discussion: Smith | ||
| March 21 | In-Class Peer Review Exercise | ||
| 3 | March 24 | Classical Economics: Ricardo, Malthus, Mill | Sandmo, chapters 4 and 5 |
| March 25 |
Readings discussion: Ricardo, Mill |
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 |
|
| March 27 | Karl Marx |
Sandmo, chapter 6 |
|
| March 28 | Readings discussion: Marx |
Marx, The Communist Manifesto Marx, selections from Das Kapital |
|
| 4 | March 31 | The Marginalist Revolution | Sandmo, chapters 7 to 9 |
| April 1 | Neoclassicism and Welfare economics | Sandmo, chapters 10 to 12; Wikipedia: Edgeworth-Bowley Box | |
| April 3 | Readings discussion: The Marginalist "Revolution" | Jevons, selections from
The Theory of Political Economy: Preface to 1st (1871) edition
and Chapter 1 (McMaster archive) Marshall's Inaugural Lecture, "The Present Position of Economics" (Password protected -- go to Moodle course page Marshall, selections from The Principles of Economics: Book I, Chapter 3, "Economic Generalizations or Laws" (McMaster archive) |
|
| April 4 | In-Class Peer Review Exercise | ||
| 5 | April 7 | Alternative views | Sandmo, chapter 13 |
| April 8 | The Systems Debate | Sandmo, chapter 14 | |
| April 10 | Readings discussion: Institutionalism | Veblen,
"The Limitations of
Marginal Utility" |
|
| April 11 | Readings discussion: Austrian economics | Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, and "The Use of Knowledge in Society" | |
| 6 | April 14 | Keynes and Keynesianism | Sandmo, chapter 15 |
| April 15 |
Readings discussion:
Keynes |
Keynes,
"The end of
laissez-faire", and selections from
The General Theory |
|
| April 17 | The Keynesian crisis and modern macroeconomics | Sandmo, 18, pp 416 - 420 | |
| April 18 | In-Class Peer Review Exercise | Sample annotated outline | |
| 7 | April 28 | Readings discussion: Macroeconomic Schools of Thought |
"A Stimulating Notion," The Economist, February 16, 2008 Selections from Samuelson, Economics -- An Introductory Analysis [Handout] |
| April 29 | Empirical advances, Econometrics | Sandmo, chapter 16 | |
| May 1 | Formalism, Finance, and GE | Sandmo, chapters 17 and 18, pp 420+ | |
| May 2 | Readings discussion: Modern Formalism |
Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values Debreu, Theory of Value |
|
| 8 | May 5 | Philosophy of science and economics |
Hausman, pp 1 - 18 and 37 - end Wikipedia Portal: Philosophy of Science |
| May 6 | No class: Research paper consultations (by appointment) | ||
| May 8 | Readings discussion: Methodology (Positivism) | Friedman, "The Methodology of Positive Economics" | |
| May 9 | Readings discussion: Methodology (Rhetoric) | McCloskey, "The Rhetoric of Economics" Journal of Economic Literature 21:2 (March 1987), 481 -- 517. Available via JSTOR through the Logan Library research databases | |
| 9 | May 12 | Research Paper Seminar: | |
| May 13 | Research Paper Seminar: | ||
| May 15 | Research Paper Seminar: | ||
| May 16 | Research Paper Seminar: | ||
| 10 | May 19 | Research Paper Seminar: | |
| May 20 | Research Paper Seminar: | ||
| May 22 | Research Paper Seminar: | ||
| May 23 | Research Paper Seminar: |