Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-Being of Nations

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-Being of Nations The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations of Nations Well-Being and Wealth The • Deirdre McCloskey Deirdre Contributors The Annual Proceedings of Deirdre Nansen McCloskey Joel Mokyr Jan Osborn Bart J. Wilson IX Volume 2016-2017 • Gus P. Gradinger Stephen T. Ziliak Emily Chamlee-Wright The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations Joshua C. Hall Seung (Ginny) Choi Virgil Henry Storr Bob Elder 2016-2017 Laura E. Grube Chuck Lewis Catherine M. Orr Department of Economics Volume IX: Bourgeois Virtues and the Great Enrichment: The Ideas and Influence of Deirdre Nansen McCloskey Warren Bruce Palmer, Editor The Miller Upton Program at Beloit College he Wealth and Well-Being of Nations was Testablished to honor Miller Upton, Beloit College’s sixth president. This annual forum provides our students and the wider community the opportunity to engage with some of the leading intellectual figures of our time. The forum is complemented by a suite of programs that enhance student and faculty engagement in the ideas and institutions that lay at the foundation of free and prosperous societies. Senior Seminar on The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations: ach year, seniors in the department of economics participate in a semester- Elong course that is built around the ideas and influence of that year’s Upton Scholar. By the time the Upton Scholar arrives in October, students will have read several of his or her books and research by other scholars that has been influenced by these writings. This advanced preparation provides students the rare opportunity to engage with a leading intellectual figure on a substantive and scholarly level. Endowed Student Internship Awards: portion of the Miller Upton Memorial Endowments supports exceptional A students pursuing high-impact internship experiences. Students are encouraged to pursue internships with for-profit firms and non-profit research organizations dedicated to advancing the wealth and well-being of nations. Charles G. Koch Student Research Colloquium and Speaker Series: ith generous support from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, Wthe department has initiated a research colloquium that gives students the opportunity to read and discuss seminal articles aimed at deepening their understanding of the market process. Students also develop original analysis that applies economic ideas to novel contexts. Colloquium participants receive close mentoring as they craft an article with the eventual goal of publication in a newspaper, magazine, or academic journal. The themes of the research colloquium and annual forum are supported with a speaker series featuring the next generation of scholars working on questions central to our understanding of the nature and causes of wealth and well-being. Annual Proceedings of The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations: he keynote address presented by the Upton Scholar is an important Tcontribution to the public discourse on the nature and causes of wealth and well-being. Further, the annual forum includes presentations by noted scholars who expand upon or challenge the work of the Upton Scholar. These presentations are assembled in the Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well- Being of Nations, which serves as an important intellectual resource for students, alumni, and leaders within higher education. The Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well- Being of Nations 2016-2017 Volume IX Warren Bruce Palmer Editor Jennifer Kodl Managing Editor Copyright © 2017 Beloit College Press. The Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-Being of Nations, 2016-2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recorded, photocopied, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 978-0-578-19638-1 Contents Introduction Warren Bruce Palmer............................................................................... 11 How We Became Rich: From Liberal Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions or Exploitation Deirdre Nansen McCloskey ...................................................................... 21 Culture, Elites and the Great Enrichment Joel Mokyr .............................................................................................. 39 Commerce Unbound: A Modern Promethean Story Jan Osborn, Bart J. Wilson, and Gus P. Gradinger .................................... 57 Statistically significant journey: How to grow the economy and keep your hair Stephen T. Ziliak ..................................................................................... 73 Story Craft and the Market Process Emily Chamlee-Wright ............................................................................ 95 A “Model” Model: McCloskey and the Craft of Economics Joshua C. Hall ...................................................................................... 113 Markets as moral training grounds Seung (Ginny) Choi and Virgil Henry Storr ............................................ 129 Heeding McCloskey and Ziliak While Defending the F (as well as the D– and the F+) Bob Elder .............................................................................................. 147 Towards a Culturally-aware Economics Laura E. Grube ..................................................................................... 167 Literary Paint and McCloskey: Reading The Rise of Silas Lapham as an Economic Formation Chuck Lewis ......................................................................................... 189 Marking Bodies in Academic Spaces Catherine M. Orr .................................................................................. 201 Contributors Warren Bruce Palmeris the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics, Beloit College. Deirdre Nansen McCloskey was the 2016 Miller Upton Scholar and is Distin- guished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago. As her web page notes, “She is known as a “conservative” economist, Chicago-School style (she taught in the Eco- nomics Department there from 1968 to 1980, and in History), but protests that “I’m a literary, quantitative, postmodern, free-market, progressive- Episcopalian, Midwestern woman from Boston who was once a man. Not ‘conservative’! I’m a Christian libertarian.”1 Joel Mokyr is Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History at Northwestern University and Sackler Professor at the Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel Aviv University. Jan Osborn is Associate Professor of English and Smith Institute for Political Econ- omy and Philosophy, Chapman University. Bart J. Wilson is Professor of Economics and Law, Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, and Economic Science Institute, Chapman Uni- versity. Gus P. Gradinger is Investment Analyst, Prologis. Stephen T. Ziliak is Professor of Economics and Faculty Member of the Social Jus- tice Studies Program at Roosevelt University (Chicago) where as a faculty member he also served on the University Board of Trustees. He is also Con- joint Professor of Business and Law, University of Newcastle (Australia); Faculty Affiliate in the Graduate Program of Economics, Colorado State University and Faculty Member of the Angiogenesis Foundation (Cam- bridge). Emily Chamlee-Wright is President of the Institute for Humane Studies. She was previously the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics and associate dean at Beloit College. Joshua C. Hall is Associate Professor of Economics, and Director of Center for Free Enterprise, West Virginia University. He was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. 1 http://www.deirdremccloskey.com Contributors Professor of Economics, Beloit College, 2012-2013. Seung (Ginny) Choi is Assistant Professor of Economics, St. Vincent College. Virgil Henry Storr is a Senior Research Fellow and the Senior Director of Aca- demic and Student Programs at the Mercatus Center, a Research Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, George Mason University and the Don C. Lavoie Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Mercatus Center, George Mason University. Bob Elder is the Allen-Bradley Endowed Chair in Economics, and Chair of Depart- ment of Economics, Beloit College. Laura E. Grube is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Beloit College. Chuck Lewis is Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program, Beloit College. Catherine M. Orr is Professor and Chair, Department of Critical Identity Studies, Beloit College. Introduction 11 Introduction Warren Bruce Palmer1 t is customary in this introduction to write, “As the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Pro- fessor of Economics, it was my pleasure to organize the Wealth and Well-Be- ing of Nations: a Forum in Honor of Miller Upton, and now, in turn, to in- Itroduce the Annual Proceedings of the Wealth and Well-Being of Nations, a selection of papers presented at the Forum.” Yet, these words fail to express the special pleasure of organizing the ninth Miller Upton Forum, which was special for featuring the remarkable Deirdre N. McCloskey as the 2016 Miller Upton Scholar and for bringing back former Be- loit College professors Emily Chamlee-Wright and Josh Hall, both of whom had previously led the Miller Upton Forum. Moreover, Emily, with emeritus professor Jeff Adams, was the original designer of the Miller Upton Programs, and she pio- neered the Miller
Recommended publications
  • Bibliography
    Bibliography Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics (and Related Projects) Berlet, C. (2017). Hayek, Mises, and the Iron Rule of Unintended Consequences. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek a Collaborative Biography Part IX: Te Divine Right of the ‘Free’ Market. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Farrant, A., & McPhail, E. (2017). Hayek, Tatcher, and the Muddle of the Middle. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek: A Collaborative Biography Part IX the Divine Right of the Market. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Filip, B. (2018a). Hayek on Limited Democracy, Dictatorships and the ‘Free’ Market: An Interview in Argentina, 1977. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek a Collaborative Biography Part XIII: ‘Fascism’ and Liberalism in the (Austrian) Classical Tradition. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan. Filip, B. (2018b). Hayek and Popper on Piecemeal Engineering and Ordo- Liberalism. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek a Collaborative Biography Part XIV: Orwell, Popper, Humboldt and Polanyi. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Friedman, M. F. (2017 [1991]). Say ‘No’ to Intolerance. In R. Leeson & C. Palm (Eds.), Milton Friedman on Freedom. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. © Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2019 609 R. Leeson, Hayek: A Collaborative Biography, Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78069-6 610 Bibliography Glasner, D. (2018). Hayek, Gold, Defation and Nihilism. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek a Collaborative Biography Part XIII: ‘Fascism’ and Liberalism in the (Austrian) Classical Tradition. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Goldschmidt, N., & Hesse, J.-O. (2013). Eucken, Hayek, and the Road to Serfdom. In R. Leeson (Ed.), Hayek: A Collaborative Biography Part I Infuences, from Mises to Bartley.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mont Pelerin Society
    A SPECIAL MEETING THE MONT PELERIN SOCIETY JANUARY 15–17, 2020 FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE: IDEAS AND ACTIONS FOR A FREE SOCIETY CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR MAKING THE CASE FOR LIBERTY RUSSELL ROBERTS HOOVER INSTITUTION • STANFORD UNIVERSITY 1 1 MAKING THE CASE FOR LIBERTY Prepared for the January 2020 Mont Pelerin Society Meeting Hoover Institution, Stanford University Russ Roberts John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University [email protected] 1 2 According to many economists and pundits, we are living under the dominion of Milton Friedman’s free market, neoliberal worldview. Such is the claim of the recent book, The Economists’ Hour by Binyamin Applebaum. He blames the policy prescriptions of free- market economists for slower growth, inequality, and declining life expectancy. The most important figure in this seemingly disastrous intellectual revolution? “Milton Friedman, an elfin libertarian…Friedman offered an appealingly simple answer for the nation’s problems: Government should get out of the way.” A similar judgment is delivered in a recent article in the Boston Review by Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik, and Gabriel Zucman: Leading economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman were among the founders of the Mont Pelerin Society, the influential group of intellectuals whose advocacy of markets and hostility to government intervention proved highly effective in reshaping the policy landscape after 1980. Deregulation, financialization, dismantling of the welfare state, deinstitutionalization of labor markets, reduction in corporate and progressive taxation, and the pursuit of hyper-globalization—the culprits behind rising inequalities—all seem to be rooted in conventional economic doctrines.
    [Show full text]
  • Trade Deficits and Jobs
    Trade Deficits and Jobs August 2008 Russell Roberts roberts@gm u.edu George M ason University http://www.cafehayek.com http://www.econtalk.org http://www.m ercatus.org www.mercatus.org A Persistent and Growing Merchandise Trade Deficit U.S. Merchandise Trade Balance, 1960-2005 (billions of dollars) 1968 1970 1986 1972 1988 1974 1990 1960 1976 1992 1962 1978 1994 1964 1980 1996 1966 1982 1998 1984 2000 2002 2004 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -400 -500 -600 -700 -800 -900 Source: BEA, http://bea.gov/bea/di/table1.xls • Merchandise trade balance—exports of goods minus imports of goods • I have tried to make it as scary as possible: • Excludes services (America exports more services than it imports since 1971) • Not deflated by either the price level or the size of the economy • Until 1976, roughly zero—sometimes positive or sometimes negative but always somewhat small. • Beginning in 1976, U.S. has run a trade deficit every single year • Since 1976, U.S. has imported $6 TRILLION worth of goods more than it has exported. 2 proportionofthepopulationworkingisalsohigher after1976thanbefore. • Economyproducesjobsforpeoplewhowant them. Populationishigherbutthe • Tradeaffectsthekindofjobsineconomy,notnumbers tradedeficits • In2005,over40millionmorejobsthanin1976,thebeginningofpersistent,growing • Recessionsreducenumberofjobs—otherwise,steadygrowth • Noobviousimpactoftradedeficitsonemployment Source: BLS,CurrentEmploymentStatistics,SeriesId:CEU0000000001 100 120 140 160 20 40 60 80 0 1939 1941 1943 Little orNoImpactofTradeDeficitonJobs 1945 1947 1949 1951
    [Show full text]
  • CV in PDF Format
    PROFESSOR TODD J. ZYWICKI GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION PROFESSOR OF LAW GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 3301 N. FAIRFAX DR. ARLINGTON, VA 22201 703-993-9484 [email protected] Web Page: http://mason.gmu.edu/~tzywick2/ PUBLICATIONS BOOKS CONSUMER CREDIT AND THE AMERICAN ECONOMY (with Thomas Durkin, Gregory Elliehausen, and Michael Staten), (Oxford University Press, 2014). PUBLIC CHOICE CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS IN LAW (with Maxwell Stearns) (West Publishing, 2009). Editor, The Rule of Law, Freedom, and Prosperity, 10 SUPREME COURT ECONOMIC REVIEW (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. 278 pp. ISBN: 0-226-99962-9). • Reviewed by Professor William A. Fischel, 14(6) LAW AND POLITICS BOOK REV. 493-97 (June 2004). ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS Bruno Leoni's Legacy and Continued Relevance, __ J. PRIVATE ENTERPRISE __ (Forthcoming 2015). Commentary on CFPB Report: Data Point: Checking Account Overdraft (with G. Michael Flores). Price Controls on Payment Card Interchange Fees: The U.S. Experience (with Geoffrey Manne and Julian Morris), ICLE Financial Regulatory Research Program White Paper 2014-2 (2014). Behavior, Paternalism, and Policy: Evaluating Consumer Financial Protection, __ NYU J. L. & LIBERTY __ (forthcoming 2014). Keynote Address: Is There a George Mason School of Law and Economics? __ J. LAW, ECONOMICS & POLICY __ (Forthcoming 2014). Uncertainty, Evolution, and Behavioral Economic Theory (with Geoffrey Manne), __ J. LAW, ECONOMICS & POLICY __ (Forthcoming 2014). Overdraft Protection and Consumer Protection: A Critique of the CFPB's Analysis of Overdraft Programs (with G. Michael Flores and Brian M. Deignan), 33(3) BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES POLICY REPORT 10 (March 2014). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in PERSPECTIVES ON DODD-FRANK AND FINANCE (Forthcoming 2014, MIT Press).
    [Show full text]
  • In Adam Smith's Invisible Hands: Comment on Gavin Kennedy
    KLEIN Econ Journal Watch Volume 6, Number 2 May 2009, pp 264-279 In Adam Smith’s Invisible Hands: Comment on Gavin Kennedy Daniel B. Klein1 ABSTR A C T In preface, I should tell the reader that Professor Gavin Kennedy and I met and hit it off at the January 2009 International Adam Smith Society conference held at Balliol College, Oxford, commemorating the 250th anniversary of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. There Gavin and I discussed whether this Journal, of which I am editor, might publish his essay along with a dissenting opinion. As we went forward, we agreed that I would author the dissent. I am grateful to Gavin for his valuable instruction and cooperation in the shared aim of producing an exchange on the phrase invisible hand in Smith’s writings. The Journal invites Gavin to rejoin and conclude the exchange in a future issue. Peter Minowitz (2004, 411) concludes his essay, “Adam Smith’s Invisible Hands” with the following words: “Centuries after Smith’s death, we are still struggling to fathom a two-word phrase that stands out in a thousand-page book.” Such struggling has been misplaced, according to Professor Gavin Kennedy. Abstain from the struggling, for the two-word phrase is an incidental metaphor in Smith’s writings; it deserves no currency as tag for the prosaic workings of markets, even less for rarified workings untrue to Smith. In his erudite, plain-spoken, challenging essay, Gavin suggests that the metaphor had no very special significance; that its occurrence in the Astronomy differs irreconcilably from that in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • Syllabus Review, Introductions
    Urban and Regional Economic Development, 90-743 Spring 2021 Version 1.0, January 30, 2021 Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:10-4:30PM Instructor Location: Online through February 12 Christopher Briem Office Hours: Group online Mondays 4-5:30pm E-mail use: [email protected] (starting Feb 6) Office/voicemail: 412.624.3791 Individual appts: Fridays 3-6pm Cell: 412.363.7498 Course Description The course will introduce students to the theory and practice of economic development in the United States. An introduction to basic analytic techniques used by both researchers and economic development practitioners will be coupled with a broad overview of the research literature in the fields of urban and regional economics. Emphasis will be placed on the public sector’s role in promoting economic development and public policy at the federal, state and local levels that are focused on improving economic conditions for people, places and regions. Optional readings will focus on Pittsburgh’s economic development and regional economic change since WWII. Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to: Explain economic theories explaining the location of economic activities and the growth or decline of regional economies at the state, metropolitan and local level. To include, but not limited to industry cluster theory, the role of human capital, place-based vs person-based economic development approaches. Critique the theories and methods of regional economic development in their application to a region. Understand key data sources and their limitations for use in local and regional analysis. Examine regional and local economies using critical analytical methods like shift share, location quotients, and comparative analysis.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Inequality
    SMU McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Scholars Reading Groups Fall 2020 Syllabus Exploring Inequality Tues./Wed.: Dean Stansel, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow [email protected], office: 214-768-3492 Mon./Fri.: Meg Tuszynski, Ph.D., Research Fellow & Assistant Director [email protected], office: 214-768-3170 O’Neil Center for Global Markets & Freedom (www.oneilcenter.org) Cox School of Business, Crow 282 Meeting Times. Our meetings will be held on Mondays (Bridwell), Tuesdays (McLane), and Wednesdays (Armentrout) at 6-7 pm (Central time), and Fridays (Armentrout) at 11am-noon (Central time) online via Zoom. All four groups have the same readings. Attendance is required. Your attendance and active participation are required. We will have 10 regular meetings plus a joint reading group summit with the students from similar reading groups at Baylor, Texas Tech, Angelo State, and University of Central Arkansas. That event will be held online via Zoom on the morning of Sat. Oct. 17 and is a required part of the program. You will not be paid the $1000 stipend if you do not attend. You are required to attend all 10 weekly meetings. However, if you have an unavoidable conflict, we do have limited flexibility, with advance notice, for you to switch nights if you cannot attend on your regular reading group night (i.e., if you can’t make one of your regular Monday night meetings, you can instead attend on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday that week and vice-versa). In addition, the O’Neil Center hosts several guest speakers throughout the semester. Those will all be online this semester.
    [Show full text]
  • Russell Roberts
    RUSSELL ROBERTS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS 4400 UNIVERSITY DRIVE ENTERPRISE HALL, ROOM 332 FAIRFAX, VA 22030 WORK: (703)993-1186 [email protected] http://invisibleheart.com http://cafehayek.com http://econtalk.org CURRENT AND PAST POSITIONS 2003 – present Professor of Economics, George Mason University 2003 – present J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar, Mercatus Center 2003 – present Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University 2001 – present Advisory Board Member, The Library of Economics and Liberty, 1991 – 1999 Director, Management Center, John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University 1989 – 1991 Visiting Associate Professor of Business Economics, John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University 1987 – 1989 Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Economics, UCLA 1985 – 1987 National Fellow and Visiting Scholar, Hoover Institution 1986 – 1987 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Stanford University 1980 – 1987 Assistant Professor, Departments of Political Science and Economics University of Rochester EDUCATION 1981 Ph.D. Economics, University of Chicago 1975 B.A. Economics, University of North Carolina (with highest honors) RUSSELL ROBERTS JULY 2002 PAGE 2 PUBLICATIONS BOOKS The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity, Princeton University Press, 2008 The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance (MIT Press, 2001) The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism, Prentice Hall, 1994 One of the Top Ten Business Books of the Year (Business Week); One of the Best Books of the Year (The Financial Times), Updated and revised edition, 2001 Third edition, 2003 ACADEMIC ARTICLES AND MONOGRAPHS “Gambling with Other People’s Money: How Policy Mistakes Created Perverse Incentives and the Financial Crisis of 2008,” Mercatus Center, George Mason University, (forthcoming 2009).
    [Show full text]
  • Laissez-Faire File Sharing
    Laissez-faire file sharing Access control designed for individuals at the endpoints Maritza L. Johnson Steven M. Bellovin Columbia University Columbia University [email protected] [email protected] Robert W. Reeder Stuart E. Schechter Microsoft Microsoft Research [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION When organizations deploy file systems with access con- Despite decades of research into shared file systems, email trol mechanisms that prevent users from reliably sharing remains an enormously popular way to share files. Prior files with others, these users will inevitably find alternative research has shown that email is used more frequently than means to share. Alas, these alternatives rarely provide the other sharing mechanisms [5, 29] and that many users choose same level of confidentiality, integrity, or auditability pro- email as their primary sharing mechanism [31]. Our anecdo- vided by the prescribed file systems. Thus, the imposition tal experiences at Microsoft align with these findings; even of restrictive mechanisms and policies by system designers those individuals and groups we work with that primarily and administrators may actually reduce the system’s secu- use shared file systems (shared folders or SharePoint) in- rity. evitably resort to email attachments when access controls We observe that the failure modes of file systems that en- interfere with sharing. force centrally-imposed access control policies are similar to Like many before us, we set out to enumerate the user re- the failure modes of centrally-planned economies: individu- quirements that lead users to circumvent the file sharing sys- als either learn to circumvent these restrictions as matters of tems prescribed by their organizations.
    [Show full text]
  • Pol S 270 Introduction to Political Economy
    Pol S 270 Introduction to Political Economy Department of Political Science University of Washington Summer 2017 Instructor information Course information Instructor: Yu Sasaki Class meets: Monday & Wednesday, 12:00–14:10 Office hours: Tuesday, 14:00–16:00 Class location: DEN 258 Office location: Smith 43 Course website on Canvas E-mail: [email protected] Course Statement Political economy is the study of the efficient allocation of scarce resources. In this course, we make afew simple assumptions based on the study of economics: First, actors always want to maximize their own welfare while reducing its cost to a minimum. Second, actors always face constraints—financial, time, resources, power, to name but a few—upon making their decisions. Actors, therefore, always make a tradeoff in making their decisions. Based on these assumptions, we will examine a wide variety of questions from politics, the economy, and society. For instance, when it comes to alleviating poverty in Africa, what are some of the most cost-effective (or the “best”) ways to do so? Should government leaders cut checks for individual citizens? Should we instead distribute school uniforms to encourage children to go to school? Or should we introduce universal basic income to guarantee everyone with a minimum pay no matter what? Which policy is likely to yield greater income-generating behavior? Political economy provides powerful and useful perspectives to address these questions. The course has two broad tasks. First, it introduces students to basic analytical concepts of political economy. More specifically, the course stresses the principles of rational choice and explores a variety of applications to not just economic decisions in everyday life but also pressing political questions.
    [Show full text]
  • Economics 10: Personal Financial Literacy April 6 - April 10 Time Allotment: 20 Minutes Per Day
    Economics 10: Personal Financial Literacy April 6 - April 10 Time Allotment: 20 minutes per day Student Name: ________________________________ Teacher Name: ________________________________ Economics 10: Rise of Capitalism April 6 – April 10 Packet Overview Date Objective(s) Page Number Monday, April 6 1. Explain Adam Smith’s arguments regarding the 3 benefits of Division of Labor 2. Explain Adam Smith’s arguments regarding why people trade Tuesday, April 7 Explain difference between comparative advantage and 6 absolute advantage Wednesday, April 8 Use a PPF in exploring the difference between 9 comparative advantage and absolute advantage Thursday, April 9 Use a PPF in exploring the difference between 13 comparative advantage and absolute advantage ***Quiz*** Friday, April 10 ***Scheduled Day Off*** 15 Additional Notes: We pick back up with where we left off before Spring Break. We started studying the rise of Capitalism, with arguably the most influential writer on economics, Adam Smith. This week, we will continue our study of Adam Smith and also study another famous economist, David Ricardo, whose writings and insights on international trade still dominate today. As you will, I am supplementing the daily readings and questions with videos to provide greater background and context to some of the concepts we are studying. They are relatively brief, but will help with the lesson and hopefully serve as a means for further exploration. And starting this week we will now have “Office Hours” via Zoom! The full schedule is below but since Economics was during Period 6, on Tuesday and Thursday from 1-1:50 you can connect with me via Zoom to ask questions, discuss concepts etc..
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Political Economy Econ 119 / Poli 145 Fall 2012
    Introduction to Political Economy Econ 119 / Poli 145 Fall 2012 M-W 10:05-11:20 a.m. Class: White Lecture Hall Prof. Michael Munger [email protected] Office: Perkins 338 cell phone (emergencies only!): 919 369 6453 Office Hours: • Immediately after class, in Trinity Cafe • Tuesday 1:30-3:00 pm in Perkins 338 Teaching Assistant: Anna Schultz email: [email protected] Overview: This course serves three distinct purposes. • The course is an introduction to economics for non-majors. It is a self-contained and non- technical overview of the history of economic thought, the logic of microeconomic analysis, and the definitions of everyday terms and concepts in the macro economy. Consequently, it counts as a stand-alone Social Science credit, but it does not count toward an Economics major. If you are thinking of an Economics major, this class is a waste of your time. Get the math prereq’s out of the way and then take Econ 51 instead. • It is an introduction to the history of the notion of a political economy, with an emphasis on the moral and ethical problems that markets solve, and also those that markets fail to solve. Consequently it carries an Ethical Inquiry (EI) course credit. • It is a bridge to more advanced courses in philosophy, politics, and economics for the student who wants to sample these disciplines without committing to several semesters of coursework. Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites except for high school mathematics. On the other hand, the reading and studying commitments involved in this course are extensive.
    [Show full text]