Prerequisites: None. ECON 101 and 102 may be taken in either order.

An examination of the logic of constrained choice, with a focus on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations. The mechanics of the price system are analyzed in terms of demand (utility) and supply (cost). The characteristics of alternative market structures, from pure competition to monopoly, are derived and evaluated. The conditions under which markets allocate resources efficiently are worked out, and several causes of market failure are examined. Simple graphical and mathematical methods (high-school level of difficulty) are developed, their use reinforced by a variety of applications. Questions of microeconomic analysis and policy raised by current events are debated.

Prerequisite: None. 101 and 102 may be taken in either order.

Prerequisite: Economics 102.

international economics and how well they explain the patterns of trade and money flows that occur in the global economy. The first part of the course will focus on why countries trade with one another, what determines the pattern of trade, and when the government should get involved to protect the domestic economy or to promote export competition. In the second part of the course, we will examine how exchange rates are determined, what role they play in the world economy, and how the current exchange rate system may lead to economic difficulties such as the recent Asian Crisis.

Prerequisites: Econ 101 and 102.

This course introduces students to the problems of economic development in the Third World. The course will start by discussing basic concepts, historical background and key contemporary problems relating to development. We will then turn to an examination of the internal constraints faced by the developing countries and the policies/institutions that contribute to or ameliorate those constraints. This will be followed by a similar discussion of the external constraints to third world development. Both the internal and the external constraints to development will be discussed with reference to the historical experiences of specific countries and the concrete problems of policy. The final part of the course will be dedicated mostly to policy issues.

Prerequisites: ECONOMICS 101 and 102.

This seminar explores one of the oldest and most impassioned controversies in political economy: What are the economic and social ramifications of alternative systems of land tenure? The geoclassical tradition focuses on the question of how institutions, particularly property institutions, affect both the efficiency and the distributive consequences of market processes. The foremost contributor to this school was Henry George, who a century ago argued that existing property institutions permit landowners to exploit laborers and accumulators of capital alike. We survey the geoclassical literature from its classical roots in Locke, Quesnay, and George to just-published studies, and contrast doctrines that oppose geoclassical theory and its radical policy implications. While this course deals primarily with economic philosophy and methodology, its subject is a matter of direct practical significance. Thus, historical and contemporary applications of geoclassical public finance are reviewed. Urban and environmental problems are interpreted in the light of geoclassical principles.

Prerequisites: ECONOMICS 102 and related background in history, philosophy, or economics

Current topics in macroeconomic policy are explored. Topics include fiscal and monetary "neutrality" and "superneutrality," budget deficits, optimal inflation, path dependence, policy transmission mechanisms, multiple equilibria, and wage and benefit regulations, earning capacity and distribution of income and wealth. Reading range from a few classics (Keynes, Robinson, Kalecki, Friedman, Lucas) to more recent journal articles applying these theoretical constructs to policy questions about budget balance, central bank policy, entitlement reform, and other issues.

Prerequisites: ECON 102 and 201.

This course is intended to give students familiarity with concepts of economic justice, to train them to think critically about the subject, and to help each student identify a set of personal principles of economic justice, whose implications that student will be pleased to embrace. The course will address such questions as, What is justice? How is justice related to the concepts of peace, morality and community? Do people own their talents? Why? What does that imply? When, if ever, is it reasonable to prevent a person from leaving one society and joining another? On what basis, if any, can it be argued that some people should be compelled to support others? What measures to reshape the distribution of income within a society are justified? Do physical handicaps justify special claims for individuals? What kinds of handicaps, if any, are to be compensated, and how is the amount of compensation to be determined? Who should provide the compensation? Is it possible to own or otherwise have a respectable claim to exclusive access to opportunities provided by nature? If so, on what basis? How can claims (by individuals or nations) to the control of territory and natural resources be justified? How can one justify claims to things that are produced by combining human effort with scarce natural opportunities? Is inheritance justified? On what basis? Who counts as a being with a moral claim on us? Fetuses? Gorillas that talk by sign language? Other animals? Plants? Extra-terrestrial creatures (if there are any)? How, if at all, do the moral claims on us of foreigners differ from the moral claims of fellow citizens, and why? What claims do children have on their parents? What claims do future generations have on everyone in the present generation? To what extent does the status quo deserve special respect, and why?