DRAFT REPRESENTATIVE SYLLABUS FROM PRIOR YEAR

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1 Introduction to Economic and Political Thought BPEP-UB Fall 2016 DRAFT REPRESENTATIVE SYLLABUS FROM PRIOR YEAR Course Instructors Prof. Joseph Foudy Class Times/Location: Mondays & Wednesdays, 9:30 am, Room: Tisch 201 Office Hours/Location: Wednesday 1:00-3:00 pm, KMEC 7-66 Contact: / (212) Prof. Carol Newell Class Times/Location: Mondays, 3:30 pm, Room: T-UC03 Office Hours/Location: By appointment Contact: Prof. Bruce Meyerson Class Times/Location: Mondays, 3:30pm or 4:55 pm, Room: T-UC05 Office Hours/Location: By appointment Contact: Course Description This course explores political theory with an emphasis on modern political theory and issues of political economy. The course has three main objectives. First, students will be introduced to different theories of politics (e.g. approaches to organizing a state and designing polities, the relationship between ruler/state and governed) and theories of political economy (e.g. how do politics and economics interrelate, how do states balance issues of equity and efficiency, what are the benefits and limits of markets, what is the proper role of the state in the economy). Second, the course features a major writing component designed to improve students writing abilities. Third, the course challenges students intellectually, asking them to analyze and debate ethical and moral issues created by varied economic and political choices. This will help enhance a student s logical reasoning skills and intellectual development. Teaching Philosophy 1. The first objective is to teach you many of the fundamental concepts in economic and political thought. 2. The second objective is to develop students writing ability. The ability to articulate one s view is crucial, and this course has a substantial writing component to help achieve that objective. 3. A third objective, derived from the first two, is to encourage critical thinking to aid in your future careers. Students are expected to dissect many leading debates of the day. While exams and papers will feature issues and readings from class and the assigned texts, they will also test your ability to explain, defend and criticize theories and arguments. Business leaders need to apply analytical reasoning skills to daily as well as strategic challenges facing their firms. Similarly, political leaders must understand complex, and often just emerging, issues. They question conventional wisdoms other observers take for granted and apply common sense analysis to otherwise intractable problems. Even if students may not use all the specific tools learned in this or other classes during their Stern education, the critical thinking skills imparted can last a lifetime.

2 Course Requirements The course requirements include multiple written assignments and papers, a midterm exam and a final exam. Additionally, as class participation will be graded, the course requires your active engagement during every meeting. Doing the assigned readings and being prepared to contribute in class will, therefore, be an important component of your grade. Please also feel free to come to our meetings with questions, comments and topics that will generate interesting discussions. As noted, there will be a series of written assignments related to the topics introduced in class. Writing is a craft that improves with practice and feedback. As such, and as noted, a major course objective will be to improve each student s ability to write clearly, concisely, analytically and persuasively. Participation/Attendance Students are expected to have finished the readings prior to class. In some cases, class discussions will revolve around those readings. In others, they will not. The course has a reasonable policy regarding lateness and excused absences for personal circumstances -- so long as you clear all absences with the instructors in advance. Otherwise, any more than two unexcused absences will affect your participation grade. Likewise, recurring lateness will affect you grade. Academic Integrity, Laptops and Recordings Students are bound by the Stern Undergraduate Code of Conduct. Aside from writing sessions where laptops are requested, students may only use laptops in class with the written permission of the instructor. We strongly prefer that you do not use your laptops in class, as we receive many complaints every year from other students who find such activity disruptive. In particular, you should not be surfing the Web, using social media, checking , or doing work for other courses. Likewise, students may not use or check cell phones during class for any purpose. Students also must receive the written permission from the instructor to use recording devices in class. Violations of the above are subject to a grade penalty or other punishment at the discretion of the professors. Grading Guidelines Papers 40% Midterm 20% Final examination 30% Class participation: 10% Course Readings 1) Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 2) Todd G. Buchholz, New Ideas from Dead Economists: An Introduction to Modern Economic Thought, (New York: Plume/Penguin Group Press) 3) Michael Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Second Edition), (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing) Any additional readings will be available on NYU Classes.

3 Sept. 2/ Seminar 1 Introduction to the course Sept. 9 / Seminar 2 The State of Nature Wolff, Chapters 1 and 2 Short Excerpts, Plato s Republic Chinese Philosophy Excerpts on Human Nature Sept. 14 / Seminar 3 The Nature of the State Wolff, Chapter 3 Short Excerpts, Rousseau Sept. 16 / Seminar 4 What is (and is not) Democracy? Schmitter and Karl, What Democracy Is and Is Not, The Journal of Democracy, Summer 1991 Fareed Zakaria, The Rise of Illiberal Democracy, Foreign Affairs, November 1997 Dani Rodrik and Sharon Mukand, Why Illiberal Democracies are on the Rise, The World Post, May 18, 2015 Sept. 21 / Seminar 5 Forms of Democracy, Britain Yes, Prime Minister Viewing Larry Diamond, Why East Asia including China Will Turn Democratic in a Generation, The Atlantic, January 24, 2012 Minxin Pei, Five Ways China Could Become a Democracy, The Diplomat, February 12, 2013 Sept. 23 / Seminar 6 Dilemmas of Democracy, Interest Groups Dixit and Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically, Short excerpt Louis Menand, The Un-political Animal: How Political Science Understands Voters, The New Yorker, August 30, Bryan Caplan, The Myth of the Rational Voter, Cato Unbound, Nov. 6, 2006

4 Sept. 28 / Seminar 7 Tribalism, Democracy Critiques David Runcimen, The Origins of Political Order Review, The Guardian, May 12, 2011 Sept. 30 / Seminar 8 Democracy vs. Dictatorship: Performance Debate William Easterly, Enlightened Autocrat Post Eric Li, The Life of the Party, and Jeremy Page and Lingling Wei, Crisis Puts First Dents, The Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2015 David Brooks, The Battle of the Regimes, The New York Times, August 4, 2014 Oct. 5 / Seminar 9 Liberty, Property and Equality Wolff, Chapter 4 Oct. 7 / Seminar 10 Liberty, Property and Equality II Wolff, Chapter 5 Oct. 13 / Seminar 11 TUESDAY Liberty, Property and Equality III Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia Excerpts Oct. 14 / Seminar 12 Impact of Inequality Nathan Glazer, On Americans & Inequality, Daedalus, Summer 2003, Janny Scott, Life at the Top in America Isn't Just Better; It's Longer, New York Times, May 16, 2005 Matt Phillips, America does not have an education problem, it has a class problem, Quartz, December 2, 2014 Oct. 19 Seminar 13 Justice and Policy Issues Oct. 21 / Seminar 14 Midterm Exam Wolff, Chapters 6 Adriane Raine, The Criminal Mind, The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2013 Nancy Ditomaso, How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment, The New York Times, May 5, 2013

5 Oct. 26 / Seminar 15 Social Capital Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital, Journal of Democracy, January 1995 David Brooks, The Evolution of Trust, The New York Times, June 30, 2013 Oct. 28 / Seminar 16 Culture, Identity and Globalization Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, The Atlantic, March 1992 (skim) Dominique de VillepIn, Will the Clash of Identities Consume us?, The World Post, June 19, 2014 HBS Italy Case Nov. 2 / Seminar 17 Culture, Identity and Globalization Thomas Friedman, It s a Flat World, after all, The New York Times Magazine, April 3, 2005 Nov. 4 / Seminar 18 Competition and Markets: Smith, Malthus and Ricardo Buchholz, Chapters, 2, 3 Friedman - Story of the Pencil Video Nov. 9/ Seminar 19 Competition and Markets: Smith, Malthus and Ricardo Buchholz, Chapter 4 Nov. 11 / Seminar 20 M 3 : Mill, Marx and Marshall Buchholz, Chapters, 5 and 6 Francis Fukuyama, The Future of History, Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2012, Nov. 16 / Seminar 21 M 3 : Mill, Marx and Marshall Buchholz, Chapter 7 Nov. 18 / Seminar 22 Market Failure I Buchholz, Chapters, 8, 9 Eduardo Porter, A Dearth of Innovation for New Drugs, The New York Times, July 22, 2014

6 Nov. 23 / Seminar 23 Market Failure II Nov. 25 / No Class Thanksgiving Break Buchholz, Chapter 10 Paul Krugman, Baby-Sitting the Economy, Slate, Oct. 13, 2008 Nov. 30 / Seminar 24 Public Choice School and Gov t Failure Michael Munger, Planning Order, Causing Chaos, Online Article, Sept. 1, 2008 David Brooks, Bentham vs. Hume, The New York Times, October 9, 2009 Hayek, Road to Serfdom, excerpt Landon Thomas, What s broken in Greece? Ask an Entrepreneur, The New York Times, Jan 29, 2011 Dec. 2 / Seminar 25 Government Failure and Public Choice Buchholz, Chapter 11 George Stigler, The Theory of Economic Regulation, Bell Journal of Economics and Management Science, Spring 1971(Vol 2, No 1) LIMITED PAGES Dec. 7 / Seminar 26 Behavioral Economics and the Economics of Behavior Buchholz, Chapters, 12 and 13 Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational, excerpt John Coates, The Biology of Risk, The New York Times, June 7, 2014 Dec. 9 / Seminar 27 Debate on Markets, Productivity, Innovation and Human Progress Growth: The Great Stagnation," The Economist, January 27, 2011 Robert Gordon, Is US economic growth over? Faltering innovation confronts the six, VoxEU.com, Sept. 11, 2012 Dec. 14 / Seminar 28 Economics Perspectives on Inequality, Review for Final Inequality vs. Growth, The Economist, March 1, 2014 Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Will Humans Go the Way of Horses, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2015 Eduardo Porter, Inequality and the ills Behind it, The New York Times, July 29, 2014 Final Exam: TBD. Good Luck