2008–2009 Economics Courses
Political Economy of Women
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Fall
What determines the status of women in different societies and communities? What role is played by women’s labor (inside and outside of the home)? By cultural norms regarding sexuality and reproduction? By religious traditions? After some brief theoretical grounding, this course will address these questions by examining the economic, political, social, and cultural histories of women in the various racial/ethnic groups that make up America. We begin by exploring the fascinating role of women in Iroquois Confederation in the days before white colonization. We discuss the factors that gave Iroquois women political and social power and examine how white colonization undermined their standing. We then contrast Iroquois women’s status with that of white colonist women in Puritan Massachusetts and examine the economic, religious, and other factors that led to the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. Next, we examine the position of African American women under slavery, including labor roles and forced reproduction. We then explore the development of competitive capitalism in the north and the “cult of true womanhood” in the rising middle class. We then move south again, examining the economic and political changes that accompanied the Civil War and Reconstruction and examine the complex relationships between African American and white women in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. Next, we examine how the Mexican-American War created a landless agricultural labor force and the attempts to culturally assimilate Chicana women via “Americanization” programs. Then we focus on the conditions that encouraged Asian women’s immigration and on their economic and social positions once here. After that, we examine the union movement and the important but sometimes contradictory role organized labor has played in the lives of women of various races. We look at the impact of U.S. colonial policies on Puerto Rican migration, economic status, and reproduction. We examine the economic/political convulsions of the twentieth century—from the trusts of the early 1900’s to WWII—and chart their impact on women’s paid and unpaid labor and on the status of LGBTs. And finally, we examine the economic and political upheavals of the 1960’s that led to the “second wave” of the women’s movement and set the stage for women’s current economic, political, and social roles.
Introduction to Economic Theory and Policy
Level: Open
Semester: Year
Economics has such a profound impact on all of our lives—from where we live and go to school, to what we do for a living, to how we dress and how we entertain ourselves. Economics is also crucially intertwined with the social and political issues that we care about, from global warming to military policies, from poverty around the globe to discrimination by race and gender at home. This yearlong course gives students the background they need to understand and to analyze current economic problems. It introduces a variety of perspectives on economics, including neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxian, and feminist, and encourages students to apply these contrasting perspectives to current economic issues. The course begins with a brief history of our capitalist economic system, with an emphasis on the roles played by slavery and by women’s unpaid labor. We then discuss the Industrial Revolution, which provided historical context for the rise of the market-based “neoclassical perspective” on economics. We explore and critique several centrally important concepts in this perspective, including price/profit-based resource allocation, efficiency and opportunity cost, supply and demand, and market equilibrium. Next, we examine the Great Depression (the context for the Keynesian revolution) and explore Keynes’s insights into the instability of the financial system, insights that are particularly relevant today. We contrast this “disequilibrium” Keynesian perspective with the market-based Keynesian perspective found in most textbooks and examine the strengths and weaknesses of each. We then develop the Marxian political economy perspective, including the historical context for the development of this paradigm, and the origins and dynamics of class societies. We examine the labor market from a Marxian perspective, one that emphasizes labor control, labor relations, and the impact of political power on market phenomena. We briefly discuss a feminist perspective on economics and examine how feminist insights can expand and enrich our economic analyses. Finally, we use the theoretical insights of the various paradigms we have examined to explore two sets of current economic issues—globalization/the international economy and economic inequality by race, gender, and sexual orientation within the United States.
The Political Economy of the State: The Welfare State and Prisons
Level: Open
Semester: Fall
This course will have as its foundation a discussion of rival perspectives on the nature of the state. That is, we will seek to investigate the following question: is the state in a democratic political order neutral so that it acts in the interests of all citizens, or is it institutionally and structurally regulated by the interests of the dominant social classes? This central question will then be used to study two types of state activities that have achieved some degree of prominence in the last seventy years. We will first study the welfare state. In the United States as well as other countries, there has been a heated debate for several decades over the purpose and extent of the welfare state. Economists have entered this debate with differing views over the degree to which the government should intervene in the economy in order to provide a social safety net and improve macroeconomic performance. We will analyze these issues by considering a number of different theoretical and political perspectives. We will then proceed to deal with the dramatic increase in incarceration rates in the United States and the rise of what has come to be known as the “prison industrial complex” and seek to examine both conservative and radical explanations of this type of state policy. It is envisaged that students will develop a rigorous theoretical understanding of the variations in these two types of social policies and be able to relate these variations to the long waves of economic activity. The goal of this course is to ensure that students understand the analytical content and economic basis of every policy perspective and also be exposed to some of the sociology/public policy/political science literature on the state and these two types of social policies.
Political Economics of the Environment: Sustainable Development
Level: Open
Semester: Spring
The seventh of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals reads “Ensure environmental sustainability.” Indeed, on the surface, sustainable development is a goal everyone could agree with—who would be for unsustainable development? But in fact, there is no consensus on the meaning of the term: some definitions emphasize the importance of preserving natural capital for future generations, while others aggregate all forms of capital together, arguing that our only obligation to the future is access to an equivalent standard of living. A related dispute is over what the relationship is between environmental sustainability and human well-being—as well as how the relationship may differ by gender, class, and other factors. This course will examine these differing views of sustainable development both in theory and through the examination of specific development projects. Economists approach environmental questions through three differing theoretical schools: environmental economics, ecological economics, and political economics. These schools use differing techniques to value the environment, offer different understandings of what would be good environmental and economic outcomes, and advocate different policies to achieve sustainability. Underlying these differences are political economic questions of distribution of power and resources both within specific countries and globally. This course will explore the range of views, with an emphasis on understanding the assumptions underlying their disagreements and on the policy implications of these views. Topics will include the policies of the World Bank, sustainable agriculture, the controversial issue of resource privatization, and cases of specific commodities such as gold and cotton that illuminate the problems and complexities of sustainable development.
Economic Systems in History and Theory
Level: Intermediate
Semester: Year
Today, most of the nations that were once “socialist” or “communist” are, in one way or another, either capitalist or in transition to capitalism. As a result, the world economy has been—and continues to be—transformed. In this course, we will review the origins of capitalism and study its development in different parts of the world. We will also examine the rise and demise of Soviet-style “socialism.” To carry out this work, we will study the theories and histories of various economic models (Adam Smith, Karl Marx, J. M. Keynes, feudalism, capitalism, socialism). We will look at countries still governed by communist regimes (e.g., China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea) as well as postcommunist societies (e.g., Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and other states that were once pieces of the Soviet empire). We will devote considerable attention to the advanced capitalist countries (e.g., the U.S., Japan, France, Germany, and Sweden) in which most of the world’s rich people live, noting the significant differences in their institutional structures and policies, and we will also evaluate the chances for success of the paths to development being pursued in poorer nations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. A central concern will be the never-ending ideological and political conflicts over the appropriate roles for markets and governments in organizing social relationships and allocating economic resources. This will lead to consideration of the arguments in favor of new forms of socialism, such as “market socialism.” The context for all of our studies will of course be the global capitalist economy: we must ask whether any alternative to capitalism can be successfully established and sustained while capitalist globalization continues to spread without effective opposition. For conference work, students will be expected to focus on the history and present economic circumstances of particular countries (other than the U.S.). This is an intermediate-level course, so students will need to have had some prior study in history, public policy, or social science.
Sophomores and above. Background in history and/or social studies is required.
Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
Level: Intermediate
Semester: Spring
Macroeconomics is the study of the economy in the aggregate and addresses questions such as the causes of economic growth and recession, the relationship between unemployment and inflation, the effects of changes in the money supply on the real economy, and the effects of government spending on the private economy. Attempts to address these questions have resulted in a great deal of theoretical controversy, and this controversy is reflected in disagreements over government policy. This course will present the basic models of macroeconomics, examine the views of differing macroeconomic theories (e.g., Keynesian, monetarist, rational expectations, post-Keynesian, neo-Marxist), and review recent macroeconomic policy practice and debates.
Prerequisite: a previous course in economic theory.
Current Debates in Marxian and Post-Keynesian Economics
Level: Advanced
Semester: Fall
This course deals with advanced topics in Marxian economics and, where relevant, compares Marxian perspectives with post-Keynesian/Institutionalist approaches. Where relevant, we will also discuss neoclassical theory. We will begin with the notion of surplus value and extend it to a general discussion of Marx’s distinction between production and nonproduction activities, a distinction that will be used to analyze the impact of state policies on long-run growth. We will then proceed to an analysis of technological change and use it to study industrial competition, the recurrence of generalized economic crises, and the persistence of unemployment. Marx’s theory of competition will be used to study two issues. First we will use it to study wage differentials on the basis of race and gender faced by workers with similar skill levels. Second, it will be used to discuss rent in agriculture, an issue that will lead to the analysis of oil crises. The final part of the course will deal with current debates among heterodox economists regarding the capacity utilization rate in the long run and the nature of the “long run” itself. In this context, we will revisit the issue of the role of the state and long-run growth by discussing current post-Keynesian proposals regarding full employment policies by the state. Readings will be primarily from Marx’s later writings on economic theory, notably, Capital: Volume I, selected sections from Capital: Volume III, as well as from the secondary literature in the Marxian, post- Keynesian, and Institutionalist traditions.
This is an advanced course designed for students who are interested in theoretical analysis. It requires a background in economics.