Economics 1000 The Economics of Social Issues
DESCRIPTION
This course presents fundamental economic ideas through the discussion of
social issues. The course is a hybrid course composed on several classroom
sessions followed by a numer of online assignments.
BOOKS
Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson.
Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable.
GRADES & ASSIGNMENTS
Your course grade will be determined by your performance on 2 blog posts
(100 points each), and 4 short essays (100 points each).
Each of the blog post assignments require you to write a short essay which
applies the One Lesson taught by Hazlitt. You should read news and
commentary to find views that are inconsistent with the One Lesson, and your
blog posts will offer criticism of the views based upon Hazlitt’s One
Lesson. Your essays for this assignment will be posted to Policy Economics
(policyeconomics.blogspot.com). You will receive an email invitation to join
this blog, and you should respond in a timely fashion. I also encourage you to
read and comment on the blog posts of your colleagues in the course.
The short essays will be written after you have watched the videos on each of
4 topics: (1) I Pencil, (2) Fear the Boom & Bust Rap Anthem: Keynes v.
Hayek, (3) Cronyism, and (4) Ending Poverty. Your essays will be submitted
through the Journal feature in Blackboard. You will also find links to each of
the videos through Blackboard. The point of this assignment is for you to
think like an economist. Each of your essays does not have to be long, but
each should probably be at least 3 paragraphs in length. Write each of your
essays as though you are writing to a friend or family member who has never
studied economics. Each essay will explain an idea or ideas you learned from
the videos that you think are important for anyone to understand with respect
to the topic at hand.
You may submit any of your written assignments at your convenience, as long
as all of your assignments have been submitted by June 25.