SP.278 Spring 2003
Course Syllabus: (13 weeks)
Main topics are followed by key economic concepts related to the topic.
1. Microeconomics (supply & demand, externalities (theory), intro to investment)
(Week of Feb 3-7)
2. Education (net present value, public good, human capital)
(Week of Feb 10-14)
3. Food (Monopoly, externalities (practice))
> (main reading: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser)
(Week of Feb 17-21)
4. Labor (marginal product, inequality, unemployment, unions & organization of the firm)
> (main reading: Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich)
(Week of Feb 24-28)
5. Macroeconomics (national accounts, Keynesian IS-LM graph, intro to Herman Daly and appropriate scale as a macroeconomic goal)
(Week of Mar 3-7)
6. Development (inequality and poverty, increasing returns and poverty traps, formal vs. informal economic organization, social capital)
> (main reading: Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen)
(Week of Mar 10-14)
7. International Finance (IFIs (WB, IMF, WTO), development & debt relief, subsidies, tariffs, and trade wars)
(Week of Mar 17-21)
(Spring Break: Week of Mar 24-28)
8. Argentina (exchange rate parity, currency crises & central bank strategies)
(Week of Mar 31-Apr 4)
9. Environment (natural capital, Hicksian definition of income, carrying capacity)
> (main reading: Beyond Growth by Herman Daly)
(Week of Apr 7-11)
10. Media (network externalities, Brian Arthur, advertising, conglomerates, media filters)
(Week of Apr 14-18)
11. Democracy (tri-sector society, IRV & other alternative voting schemes)
(Week of Apr 21-25)
12-13. Student Presentations
(Week of Apr 28-May 2)
(Week of May 5-9)