Professor Ravi Bhandari
Email: rbhandar@stmarys-ca.edu
OH: TuTh 1-2pm Dryden Hall
Spring 2015
Econ 102: History of Economic Thought
I assume readers are willing to learn something new and therefore to think for
themselves. By Karl Marx (1864)
…trying to make ends meet, You are slave to the money then you die…
Bittersweet Symphony, The Verve
Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual
influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in
authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some
academic scribbler of a few years back.
John Maynard Keynes (1934)
A study of the history of ideas is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of
the mind.
John Maynard Keynes (1936)
Teachers or students who attempt to act upon the theory that the most recent
treatise is all they need will soon discover that they are making things
unnecessarily difficult for themselves. Unless that recent treatise itself presents a
minimum of historical aspects, no amount of correctness, originality, rigor, or
elegance will prevent a sense of lacking direction and meaning from spreading
among the students…
By Joseph Schumpeter in History of Economic Analysis (1954)
If there is no history, there is no story.
And no time, no word.
For then there is nothing for a word to be about, a word
Being frozen Time only. . .
By Robert Penn Warren, from Now and Then
No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste
That you may have the power of standing still-Off any still or moving thing you say.
By Robert Frost, The Master Speed
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Course Overview
The course will be divided into 3 parts--one each for the 3 major figures we will be
studying. Treating the history of thought in this way--as a procession of great books or
great thinkers--has some limitations; it neglects many important figures and it neglects
the reality that there are important social and political forces which determine what is
"proper" economic thought. Nonetheless, I am convinced that our approach is the best
place to begin, given the enormous possibilities such a subject material spanning over
two-hundred years poses. Whatever else is true of the history of ideas, you cannot truly
deal with it until you are familiar with these canonical and foundational texts. The three
thinkers we have chosen are actually central to the mainstream of economics today (even
if by explicit omission or in reaction to) and should provide you an appreciation of what
economics is all about, how we got to where we are, and what possibilities lie ahead.
To be clear, this is intensive in reading, writing, and seminar-style discussion. This is not
a strict seminar though, in the sense that (1) I will lecture on occasion to pull main ideas
together and transition to the next great thinker; and (2) the reading is not restricted to
primary readings of the Big Three, but you will be exposed to simultaneously some of the
most influential interpretations through secondary readings. For most of you, this is
likely the first time you have endeavored on such an active intellectual journey based on
critical thinking and a significant amount of writing in the discipline of economics. In
these respects, the course by nature is very demanding, lots of tough reading, and lots of
critical thinking and writing (and rewriting!). In fact, this course builds on English 5, a
prerequisite, just as Econ 3, 4, and 106 (and preferably Econ 105) drawing connections
between strategies you have learned thus far and the particular economic methods of
research and writing within the discipline of economics. All of the learning in the course
culminates in a final research paper of 15-20 pages comparing and contrasting the Big
Three on a specific topic of which you can choose (see later section “Paper Topics”).
Course Motivation and Goals
This course is designed as a last semester course in the major of economics or as a last
semester course for sociology, political science, or history. It is especially designed for
those students looking for the direction and meaning of the economics they have already
studied. To do so though, you need the power to stand still. In the post-modern world
this idea will perhaps seem paradoxical to you. Why should I learn to stand still? I want
to finish my requirements and move on in my life!
The purpose of the course, however, is not to teach you immobility; rather its purpose is
to give you the power to stand still. If you are an economics major I want to provide you
with the ability and desire to critically examine the ideas you are learning to use. If you
are not an economics major I want to give you the ability to understand what modern
economics is about and the controversies it entails. In either case, I want to help you to
understand where the ideas of economics come from, how they are used, and what they
can and cannot do. You should leave the course with a better understanding of what types
of social problems economists have tried to address, how the models they use have
changed, and what types of disagreements exist among different schools of thought and
across historical eras.
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If the course is successful, your new understanding of economics will give you the power
to stand still. That is, it will give you the knowledge and perspective to be able to stand
back and think clearly about what economic analysis is, and more importantly, what it is
not.
What you do with this power is entirely up to you. Some of you may find the history of
ideas fascinating and enjoy the course strictly from this perspective. Others may use the
course as a means of finding out why and how economics differs from philosophy,
political science and sociology. Others will use the course to become better practicing
economists. Still others will begin to engage with changing ideas over time, and attempt
to discover what kind of economist you are and what are the strengths and weaknesses of
such thinking.
In fact, all Nobel Prize winners share a deep skepticism toward conventional wisdom,
and all struggled to be truly open-minded, almost to the point of being naïve, towards
new ideas. Needless to say, almost all have a strong background in the history of
economic thought; the type of perspective you gain from studying the history of thought
should give you a better ability to develop and apply economic ideas.
Specifically, the aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the origins of key
economic ideas and an appreciation of the evolution of economics over the last two and
one-half centuries, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx to John Maynard Keynes, and to
attempt an understanding of some of the forces shaping that evolution. The aim is not to
study the economics of yesterday for its own sake but to deepen knowledge of the
economics of today. Hopefully, you will acquire a sense of the process by which the
subject of economics became what it is today, and by doing so, gain a deeper sense of
what you believe and why you hold such beliefs. Importantly, acquiring a historical
sense of economics will help you see the kind of economist you are, a position which you
will be able to defend intellectually.
Along with the familiarity with that process comes the advantage of a sense of
perspective about your other courses--where the ideas that are taught there came from,
why they were ignored for decades, what the arguments against them were, and what
alternative techniques were their rivals. One of the hoped for by-products of the course is
to impart a sense of the history of ideas as a Darwinian struggle of survival in the
intellectual market of ideas. But whether you agree with George Stigler that economics is
a science and the market for ideas is efficient making history irrelevant (and therefore no
need to read “dead economists”) is a question for you to decide.
Students without knowledge of doctrinal history are likely to consider the modern
techniques that are taught in other economic courses to be a scientifically derived truth. If
only that were true! There are, of course, reasons why these techniques evolved and
others did not. Theory and application courses usually don't have time to examine those
reasons, and the alternatives that didn't make it. We do. We will also discuss the
conditions that determine the resilience of a school of thought in the marketplace of
ideas. And some theories make it that were proven to be wrong or clearly not the best at
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that time (i.e. why standard neoclassical theory dominates the economics discourse
despite three of the most serious and devastation challenges and criticisms posed to our
accepted wisdom, arising from these thinkers). We'll consider that, too.
It is the intent of this course for you to be able to answer these over-arching and thematic
questions by the end of the semester: What do you know? How do you know it? What do
you believe? Why do you believe it?
COMMON LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the completion of this course, students will:
1. Explore and analyze the historical and theoretical foundations of economic theory.
2. Understand the relevance of the ideas of early economists to modern economic theory
and issues.
3. Gain a new appreciation and respect for intellectual differences within
economics.
CORE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Written and Oral Communication
1. Recognize and compose readable prose, as characterized by clear and careful
organization, coherent paragraphs and well-constructed sentences that employ the
conventions of Standard Written English and appropriate diction
2. Recognize and formulate effective written and oral communication, giving
appropriate consideration to audience, context and format
3. Analyze arguments so as to construct ones that are well supported, are well
reasoned, and are controlled by a thesis or exploratory question
4. Use the process of writing to enhance intellectual discovery and unravel
complexities of thought
Information Evaluation and Research Practices
1. Develop search strategies and use library catalogs and databases to find relevant
material
2. Critically evaluate sources
3. Integrate and cite evidence appropriately
4. Understand the concept of intellectual property and practice academic honesty
Readings in Classical Political Economy
But obviously this course cannot cover the whole of the history of economics - it is far
too broad a subject for that to be feasible. While a brief evolution of economic thought
is traced from Cantillon and the Physiocrats (18th century) to modern neoclassical
microeconomics and New Classical Macroeconomics--topics include Classical Political
Economy and its descendants, the marginalist revolution (Jevons, Walra, and Menger);
Marshall and the Cambridge tradition; the Keynesian revolution and major trends in postwar economic thinking such as mainstream economics and the neoclassical synthesis, the
major dissidents, development and new institutional economics, econometrics and
monetarism--the course will focus on clearly the three most important figures in the
history of economic thinking--Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.
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They each represent radically different ways of thinking about the economy, and each
has had a major influence on the way people think, both inside as well as outside the
economics profession. The course will be equally divided into three parts, one part for
each thinker. Time permitting; we will look at the development of macroeconomics,
surveying pre-Keynesian views and tracing the rise and fall of Keynesian economics to
famous modern day economists.
We will examine the primary works of these three prominent theorists within the broad
tradition of political economy. The overarching goal is to familiarize you with the
strengths and weaknesses of their contributions to social science, and to provide you with
a strong understanding of the project of social analysis that they shared.
All three thinkers and their respective theories cross the boundaries of what is known as
economics today, and were truly multidisciplinary despite their significant theoretical
differences---all stem from 19th century classical political economy, which lives on today
ironically as a sub-field of economics and not visa versa. Classical political economy has
been, in fact, an intellectual tradition that has influenced all of the contemporary social
sciences, and indeed some of the humanities, though it’s most direct modern descendant
is the discipline of economics. Its common thread is a concern with the questions of
growth and distribution: what explains changes in the amount of goods and services that a
nation produces over time, and what explains the distribution of those goods and services
to different people.
As we will see, political economy brings to bear a much broader range of tools and
intellectual resources than does contemporary neoclassical economics, despite its wellknown strengths. All three of the people we will read were broadly educated, wrote with
ease across disciplinary boundaries, and asked the big questions, they were the
quintessential political economist. It is no surprise that all three also have a tremendous
amount to say about current events, from the Asian Crash of 1997 to the unfolding Great
Recession of 2008 coupled with a new round of Eronization of finance capital, the lion’s
share of corporate America. All three have great insight to the current state of
globalization, hence the renewed interest in these ‘alternative’ theories.
We will read extensively from the works of each of the three political economists in order
to understand their contributions to social theory and to place those contributions in the
context of their overall visions of how human societies work. Much of this reading will
be difficult, whether because of archaic language, complex ideas, or both. Thus the first
task at hand will be to deal with reading and work out what the text means to everyone’s
satisfaction.
The original works or primary sources are essential reading. Many of the most important
insights of past economists have been forgotten or poorly interpreted by their successors,
while some of their greatest errors continue uncorrected.
It gets worse. Most practicing economists learnt their economics like you have done,
from textbooks. These books would have, for example, told them that Keynes developed
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IS-LM analysis. In fact, Keynes did nothing of the sort: John Hicks developed IS-LM
analysis in 1936, in a review of Keynes' General Theory. This wouldn't matter if IS-LM
analysis accurately captured what Keynes was all about, but it does not. In fact, John
Hicks himself realized this himself in 1980, and effectively repudiated IS-LM analysis.
But the textbooks continued to treat IS-LM as the essence of Keynes' theory, and
practicing economists used this as the basis of their theoretical developments, thus
building their new economic theories on unsound foundations.
Clearly, economic theories are not conceived in a vacuum: they are a product of the time
and place in which they were first developed, and there is as a result a lot of Philosophy,
Sociology, and Politics, bound up in economic thought. From this perspective, there is
good reason to study the evolution of economic thought over time. Textbooks tend to
omit the social context in which economic theories are developed: for instance,
"Keynesian" economics tends to be taught as a means to control the level of employment,
when, in fact, it was developed in the middle of the greatest economic catastrophe ever to
befall the Western world, the Great Depression; "Marxism" tends to be judged on the
basis of the failures of the Soviet Union, when the chief architect of Marxism died 30
years before the Soviet Union came into existence.
Standard textbook-based economic courses in economics also tend to omit the often
strong theoretical differences between different theories, instead implying that each later
economist has built on and extended the work of his/her predecessors. Thus the "NonAccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment" (NAIRU) is portrayed as an elaboration
of Phillips's original work on the dynamics of unemployment in the 1950s. However
NAIRU and Phillips's original work represent quite different views of the economy:
NAIRU argues that the rate of unemployment can't be influenced by economic policy,
whereas Phillips developed the "Phillips curve" to support his modeling of the way in
which government controls could stabilize an unstable economy. You will therefore get a
better grasp of economics by studying the way in which these theories have developed
over time.
For these reasons, you are far better off studying the history of economic thought
explicitly, by doing a subject like ours. Here you will read not just what a textbook's
interpretation of Keynes' work, but you will also read exactly what Keynes did say.
Frequently, this will be astoundingly different to the rendition of these great economists'
work given in the textbooks, and the conventional wisdom of popular understanding
today.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
1. Robert Heilbroner. Worldly Philosophers. 2012.
2. Robert Heilbroner. Essential Adam Smith. 2011.
3. Karl Marx. Kapital Volume I. 1868
4. David Harvey. Reading Capital. 2010.
5. John Maynard Keynes. General Theory. 1936.
6. Susan M. Hubbuch. Writing Research Papers Across the Curriulum. 2009.
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Since the primary readings are advanced, we simultaneously will read Heilbroner's
Worldy Philosophers and the Introduction to Political Economy published by Dollars and
Sense (see www.dollarsandsense.org). Other well-known texts include Spiegal's The
Growth of Economic Thought and Landreth and Colander's History of Economic
Thought.
Besides Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophers (one of the most famous books in social
science), the best alternative but intermediate level (for those who have had Econ 105
and/or Econ 106) text that clearly summarizes the pure economic differences between
Adam Smith and Karl Marx is Maurice Dobb’s classic Theories of Value and
Distribution Since Adam Smith, Vol. I and II. Luckily, the best book in my opinion to
ever come out on Marx’s Capital is due in the bookstore in early March in time for our
discussion of Marxian economics. Reading Capital by David Harvey (2010) also has
lectures that are freely downloadable at http://davidharvey.org. I highly recommend them
and will be very helpful in finding quotes and passages to use for seminar discussion and
your papers. He is considered one of the world’s leading experts in understanding Capital
(1868). We will also be reading applied Marxian economic perspectives to our current
crisis from two intellectual giants, one by the same author which just came out recently,
and a perfect complement to Reading Capital, namely The Enigma of Capital (Harvey:
2011) as well as Samir Amin’s latest Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or Ending
Capitalism (2011). To be sure there are more intellectual differences within Marxian
economics than between Marxian economics and Keynesian Economics or even
Smithian/neoclassical economics.
Requirements/Grading
The requirements are challenging compared to other economics courses that are based on
textbooks, problem sets, and exams (where there are clear and unique answers). You will
develop critical thinking and writing skills, hallmarks of a liberal arts college, and this is
a perfect medium to do so given the abundant supply of ideas, often contradictory, in the
history of economics as economics is even today. If you are not an avid reader with
above average college-level reading ability or lack a sincere interest in improving your
writing in the discipline of economics, then this is probably not a good course for you.
It’s easiest to learn by doing. In this class, doing means communicating; ideas become
meaningful when one makes a sincere effort to discuss them with the rest of the class.
This is the purpose of many class discussions. I will try to keep my lectures to every 3-4
classes to summarize major points, readings, and pull together the seminar discussions.
During class seminars, I will take a back seat and act as a guide to help everyone engage
in the discussion and students stay with the reading. Class time will be fun and interesting
if everyone gets involved in these discussions, and can engage in an informed
conversation over specific issues. This requires doing the primary reading on time and
carefully, and most importantly, being prepared to talk about it in class and ask
interesting questions of your fellow classmates. Of course, good participation also
requires that one listen and be respectful to others as well, even when they may hold very
different interpretations and views than your own. Note: if you did not do the assigned
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reading and seminar write-up for the class, you are expected not to come. Doing it is the
price of admission. This is strictly enforced. No exceptions.
This course is not only intensive in reading but also equally intensive, substantial, and
significant in writing. Writing includes weekly seminar write-ups, a 5-7 page midterm
paper on Adam Smith and a final 15-20 page research paper on the Big Three. Needless
to say, a substantive portion of the your final grade is determined by your overall writing
including researching, drafting, and incorporating ideas in your seminar-write ups and
peer reviewed comments all into one final paper.
This is an advanced senior course and the expectations for independent thinking,
solid research and good writing are ambitiously high. For all of your writing, I
expect you to carefully read Appendix 2 & Appendix 3 on guidelines on how to write
for this class which are largely based on Hubbuch’s Writing Research Papers
Across the Curriulum (2009). This book will serve as your main reference on
writing as needed throughout the semester, especially for issues that arise and are
not explicitly contained in the appendices. Students who take initiative and
responsibility to improve their writing drawing upon these resources will be well
rewarded. Writing is inextricably related to thinking, and to be a good writer, you
need to become a good thinker too. But learning how to express yourself more
effectively through writing will also improve our ability to think critically and
independently.
1. One page seminar write-up due every Thursday (except for when papers are due)
When reading original text, I expect you to always look for the writer's main point and try
to get a feel for the approach taken by that author. Remember the author does not know
what great and new theoretical development is just right around the corner! This does not
require a study of every word. Pause and read in detail when you find some point that
seems interesting, relevant, or looks like a good topic to elicit comments for your
research paper, and for you to build on. Successful students in the past have used their
seminar write-ups significantly in developing their midterm and final papers, even if their
topic changes considerably. In all of your seminar write-ups, be sure to use a relevant
quote and proper citations from the primary reading in each write-up. Through this
process you will quickly develop important rhetoric skills -- including style, format,
disciplinary standard, citation, terminology, organization, and tone -- that are
characteristic of academic and professional writing within economics and will in part
determine your grade. This skill will clearly have positive spillovers in both your
midterm and final papers.
2. Midterm paper
Through writing your midterm paper you will learn the process of writing and rewriting - drafting, editing and revising -- to increase your literacy in economics and to
continually improve the relationship between content and clarity. When you apply your
learning by rewriting you will learn how to integrate and reconnect ideas. This
assignment will include drafting, editing and revising, incorporating at least three other
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students’ peer reviews of your paper (please see course calendar for details). Make sure
to read and re-read Appendix 2 and 3 for detailed description on successful writing within
economics.
3. Final research paper
This paper is a scaffolding of all of your previous writings, allowing you to evolve step
by step as a writer. Your final paper should builds on both your midterm paper and
various seminar write-ups. Since your first paper is exclusively on Adam Smith, it is
interesting to see how your initial argument on Smith changes in light of two devastating
critiques by Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes.
You are also required to conduct library research through ascertaining at least one
professional article on your chosen topic from one of the following leading academic
journals in the field, all of which are available to you through your Saint Mary’s College
library online databases. They are the History of Political Economy and The Journal of
the History of Economic Thought; (in the UK) it is the Economic Journal. Some major
journals devoted to methodology are The Journal of Economic Methodology, Economics
and Philosophy, the Journal of Economic Issues, and the History of Economics Review.
It would serve you well to glance through these journals which can be obtained from the
ABI database from the SMC library homepage to get an idea about the scholars in the
field are writing about and what questions they find unresolved. An “A” paper requires
solid use of secondary sources in addition to the primary text.
The course structure and grading are strikingly similar to that of a typical seminar course
here at SMC, 40% for class participation in seminar-style discussion and 60% for the two
papers (20% for the first and 40% for the final research/seminar paper). The 40%
participation grade will be further broken down into two parts: oral discussion is 50% and
50% is the average grade of the seminar write-ups).
Two notes are in order regarding the grading. First, your papers will be graded in part by
considering characteristics of writing within the discipline of economics including proper
citation, format, terminology, organization, audience, purpose, and tone (see Appendix
2). Second, regular class attendance is an important obligation and an essential condition
for successful academic progress. Excessive absence may seriously jeopardize the
satisfactory completion of this seminar-style course. Each absence after the first two is
3% off the final grade with a maximum of 6 beyond which is grounds for failure.
Expectations of You and Me
I see my primary responsibility to lead, guide, and motivate a group of committed and
dedicated students in the learning process, and to determine the extent to which students
have mastered the material covered in this course. I am committed to this task. By
signing up for this course, I expect you to be an active learner and to fully participate in
classroom discussions. You are expected to be committed to learning the subject matter,
but most importantly, and in order to learn this subject matter, you are expected to
maintain an open mind throughout this course. It is best to think of yourself as being
called and sequestered as a juror to critically evaluate all evidence without any
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predetermined bias before rendering your decision in your final research paper (i.e.
students often have strong opinions and views about Marx and communism when Marx
never even wrote about communism). If you are not committed to this process, your
understanding of the material will greatly suffer, and inevitably your grade. Keeping an
open intellectual mind always turns out to be the greatest challenge students face in this
class given the exclusivity of neoclassical economics in both the prior education and the
profound influence of neoclassical economics on everyday mentality and psychology
and general understanding of the world. In this class, it is assumed you are ready to take
the blue pill and uncover the truth (s) about the economics of capitalism that are
concealed in neoclassical economics. Many argue ala Marx and Keynes that neoclassical
economics fetish on free markets conceals far more than it reveals about the inner
workings of our global economy.
My expectations for you in this class are high. I expect you to contribute to the class
discussions, to finish your reading before class, and take notes weekly on questions,
puzzles, or issues of interest while developing your thoughts in an ongoing process
throughout the semester.
I also expect you to enjoy yourself. It is important that you stop, reflect on what you have
learned, and think seriously about what ideas are and how we use them. Also, this class
offers a unique opportunity to connect this class with your other classes and see how it all
relates. If you use the time and space of this course to gain a deeper understanding of
current ideas you will also have been successful in my eyes.
Topics to choose from can be found in this syllabus. The objective of your papers are to
integrate all the required reading, developing a thesis statement, and carefully citing
passages from the primary sources to defend your argument.
Class participation will be judged on the extent to which you have a critical
understanding of the respective theory and topic and the ability to explain it clearly. You
should also be able to give a good summary and critique of the assigned reading/topic
with specific references to passages and quotes from the text. By the end of the course,
you will be required to defend one of the three thinkers on one of the following topics
listed below. The format is student-led seminar-style discussion. I will lecture from time
to time when appropriate to summarize some major points and provide the historical and
social context to move from one author to another.
Choosing a Paper Topic
You can choose from the topics below unless permission is obtained. Regardless of what
topic you choose below, the essay will be assessed on its ability to bring the views of all
three authors into focus and highlight the theoretical differences between different
schools of thought in economics. Both things are important. Essays which simply provide
a schematic description of the different views of the three authors will merit no more than
a C. The essential quality of this final essay is that it demonstrates your ability to step
back (to have the power to stand still) and compare the thought of authors, and to do that
comparison not simply on details, but at a more fundamental level.
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This assignment is difficult at first. It will require careful thought, and going back to the
work of each in an effort to pull out what is fundamental in it. That's its purpose, and that
is where much of your learning takes place.
You must choose among one of these five questions to write about. Aim for an essay
of about 15-20 pages body complete with correct citations, references, footnotes, and
thesis statement (in the first paragraph) drawing upon Appendices 2 & 3, and the
required book on writing by Hubbuch, Writing Across the Curriculum (2009):
1. Compare one author’s notion of economic development, economic growth,
investment, the role of government, the labor market, the role of exploitation, or
inequality with that of the other thinker. Explain similarities and differences
regarding the sources of efficiency and the necessary social institutions.
2. The related concepts of "economic crisis" or the "stationary state" and the
"business cycle" are handled very differently in (a) classical political economy as
represented by Smith; (b) Marx; and (c) Keynes. Discuss these differences. What
does this illuminate about the more fundamental differences in their approaches?
3. Compare one author’s theory of distribution with that of the others. Consider both
the nature of the class structure posited, and what explains distribution of income
among those classes. What fundamental differences in approach to economic
analysis or understanding of society do these differences point to?
4. What is the author’s understanding of capitalism? Set forth and explain the main
points of his understanding of a modern capitalist economy, and contrast them
with the economic theories of another.
5. What is the role of mathematics and econometrics in each respective theory (for
those who are taking or have taken Economics 142)? If you choose this last topic
on the role of econometrics, you must have received or are receiving a minimum
of a B- in Econ 142 and are required to respond to the following famous quote by
Lord Kelvin in 1883:
‘When you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your
knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind. It may be the beginning of
knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of
science.’
While your discussion during the final two weeks will be assessed on the clarity with
which you grasp an important aspect of the author’s argument and on your ability to
offer an critique of that argument based on the other two points of view, the final
research/seminar paper will be assessed on its ability to bring the views of all three
authors INTO FOCUS ON ONE ISSUE, and the overall depth of your reasoning.
Which author and intellectual perspective is most convincing and why?
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Course Calendar and Reading Schedule
Feb 11
Introductory Lecture, Read Preface & Ch. 1 IPE (Introduction to Political
Economy) + Preface & Chapter 1 WP (Worldly Philosophers) + Syllabus
Feb 13, 18 Adam Smith Discussion
Read Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophers (WP) pps. 1-42
Read Heilbroner’s The Essential Adam Smith, (EAS) pps. 1-56
Read: Heilbroner’s 1979 Article in HOPE (this is the leading professional
journal in the history of economic thought and stands for History
of Political Economy) which I will email to you on February 13.
Read Relevant Section in IPE
Feb 20 -- TMS in EAS, pps. 57-147 & Wealth of Nations, Book III, Ch. 1 & 4
Feb 25 -- WON, Book I, Ch. 1-6
Feb 27 -- WON, Book I, Ch. 7-9
March 4 -- WON, Book I, Ch. 10 (part 1), 11 (parts 1-2)
March 6 -- WON, Book II, Ch. 1-5
March 11-- WON, Book IV, Ch. 1-2, 7 (part 2)
March 13-- WON, Book V, Ch. 1 (parts 2-4) + “Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand” which
can be found @ http://galileo.stmarys-ca.edu/rbhandar/
March 18-- WON, Book V, Ch. 2 (parts 1-2)
MARCH 18: DRAFT MIDTERM DUE WITH PEER FEEDBACK
You are graded also on the quality of your comments on three other
students’ papers in addition to how well you have incorporated those
reviews into your final revision due the following week. Please put your
minimum two to three paragraph critical comments on the back of each of
the three other students’ papers.
T. R. Malthus (Lecture on the World Food Crisis)
March 20---Relevant Section in WP & IPE + “Adam Smith’s Teleology” which can
be found @ http://galileo.stmarys-ca.edu/rbhandar/
David Ricardo (Lecture on Ricardo and Classical Economics)
March 25---Read Relevant Section in WP & IPE + CET (Chapter 2)
MIDTERM PAPER ON SMITH DUE: March 25
Karl Marx: A Challenge to the Classical Vision: Conflict, Instability and Exploitation
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(Read the relevant sections from Marx for Beginners which is recommended and David
Harvey’s Reading Capital which is required throughout our readings of Marx)
March 27
April 1
April 3
April 8
April 10
April 22
-------
Preface, Parts 1-2, WP, pps. 75-249, IPE & Reading Capital (RC)
Kapital, Part 3, Ch. 7-9, 10 (sections 1-4) & RC
Kapital, Part 4, Ch. 12-14, 15 (section 1) & RC (on your own)
Kapital, Part 6, Ch. 19 & RC (on your own)
Kapital, Part 7, Ch. 23-24 (section 1), 25 (sections 1-4) & RC
Kapital, Ch. 26, 32 & RC
Alfred Marshall and Leon Walras (Lecture only)
April 24
-- Relevant Section in WP & IPE
John-Maynard Keynes: The Synthesis
Time permitting, we will also introduce Keynes by watching Nouriel Roubini’s award
winning lecture at LSE in addition to several excellent “you tubes” of Joseph Stiglitz,
arguably the two leading Keynesians today. Amartya Sen is arguably one of the leading
exponents of Adam Smith today to get a contrast, just as Rick Wolff who has excellent
lectures on Capital at his website http://rdwolff.com/ which is truly a remarkable resource
for not only Marx, but the course in general.
Next two weeks: You are required to read The General Theory, especially those chapters
that relate to your paper topic. But you will have to at least give a cursory examination of
the book to find out which chapters those are. Classes for these two weeks will be
devoted to seminar discussions explicating Keynes’ arguments on the role of markets,
equilibrium unemployment, government, uncertainty, and importantly, the role of
subjective expectations in shaping economic decisions.
April 29
May 1
May 6
May 8
May 12
-- Introduction to the Keynesian Revolution, WP, pps. 249-327, and
Relevant Section in IPE + CET (Chapter 3)
-- The General Theory, Chs. 1-3, 5
-- The General Theory, Chs. 11-13
-- The General Theory, Chs. 17-19 + CET (Chapter 6)
-- The General Theory, Chs. 23-24 + CET (Chapter 7)
---Library Research Due: 1 Page Write-Up from a Peer-Reviewed
Article on Your Final Paper Topic
May 14
May 18
-- Ending the Crisis of Capitalism or Ending Capitalism?
-- Class Debate: Smith vs. Marx vs. Keynes (Defend One)
Relevant Sections in WP and IPE (extra class for Review and
Discussion, TBA) + Lecture on Keynes to the Present and the 2008
Global Financial Crisis. + CET (Chapters 6 & 7)
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Important Dates to Mark Your Calendar
MARCH 21: Midterm Paper Due
MAY 22: Final Research Paper Due
Writing Support Services
All students are invited to drop in or make appointments for one-on-one sessions with
Writing Advisers. Students may request weekly or biweekly sessions with the same peer
student Adviser. The Center for Writing Across the Curriculum (CWAC) is in Dante 202
and is open 5-8 p.m. Sunday and 2-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The phone number
is 925.631.4684. The web site is http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/center-for-writing-acrossthe-curriculum.
Free Writing Advising at the Center for Writing Across the Curriculum:
Through collaborative engagement, Advisers guide their peers toward expressing
ideas clearly and revising their own papers with an eye toward audience and
purpose. Writers should bring their assignments, texts, and related material.
Writers visit the Center to brainstorm ideas, revise drafts, or work on specific
aspects of writing, such as grammar, citation, thesis development, organization,
critical reading, or research methods. Discussions may involve any type of writing,
including poetry, science lab reports, argument-driven research, or professional
application letters.
Ask a librarian!
Need library sources but don't know where to start? Searching for a book, article, or
data to support your argument? Not sure how to cite a source in your bibliography?
Ask a librarian!
Research help is available in person at the Reference Desk, by phone at 925-6314624, and during reference hours you can even text a librarian at 925-235-4762 or
chat with us live via the Library's website. Check the Library’s Ask Us page for
details. (http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/library/ask-us)
Extended assistance by appointment is also available with our SEBA representative
in the library, Sharon Radcliff.
Student Disability Services Statement
Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take
into account the context of the course and its essential elements for individuals with
qualifying disabilities. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student
Disability Services Office at (925) 631-4358 to set up a confidential appointment to
discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information
14
regarding the services available may be found at the following address on the Saint
Mary’s website: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sds
Academic Honor Code
This should go without saying, but let us say it anyway: Be honest. Present as your own
work only your own work. Your integrity is far more important than your grade. Practice
integrity in your actions and you will build it in yourself. Specifically, use your own
words and ideas, or cite your source clearly to avoid plagiarism. I am reasonable about
this, as long as you are making a good effort at citing your sources, and a mere phrase
here and there will not necessarily set off alarm bells. Remember, you don't have to go
overboard and cite the same source over and over within the same paragraph, as long as it
is apparent that you are giving appropriate credit where credit is due. But lifting
somebody else’s work, stealing their words and work without proper attribution, is
plagiarism. Getting material off the internet, copying sentences out of a book without
quotation marks, or even buying a paper from a "research service" is dangerous and
stupid, notwithstanding the fact that you are cheating yourself of your education.
Every now and then I catch somebody cheating. Punishments for academic dishonesty
will follow the guidelines as outlined in your student handbook and can be found online
under the SMC website (click on academic honor code). You must read and agree to the
SMC academic honor code as a precondition for this course. Also, you are required to
turn in your paper to turnitin.com. I will go over this in detail in class since for some of
you it may be your first time.
Frequently, I will encourage you to work together. It is especially useful for students who
have had poor instruction in writing to get someone else to look over their written work
and point out errors and unclear phrasing. Doing so is perfectly acceptable, even when
the assignment is for a grade. But don't let someone else write your work for you, and
make clear to your reader what is your own, what is joint effort, and what is others’.
When in doubt, ask me.
It is important to recognize that taking part in seminar-style discussions is part of an
implicit contract and social agreement between you, your classmates, the course, and the
instructor to always treat each other with respect, regardless of how vehemently you may
disagree with either a fellow student or with me. Disrespectful classroom behavior is a
direct violation of the Lasallian principles and moral integrity on which our college is
founded and will NOT be tolerated either during lecture, discussion, or office hours. In
order to have a deep learning experience, we simply need to have a very open and safe
learning environment, and personal attacks on anyone regardless of their views is not to
be taken lightly.
Examples of intellectual and/or personal disrespectful behavior where we will enforce
zero tolerance for include:
15
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
challenging every sentence without listening to another person, or
referring to the text
not being satisfied with an answer unless it is in full agreement with your
own personal or political views, unable to agree to disagree
dominating the conversation at the expense of others who then may feel
uncomfortable to speak out
attacking exclusively the conclusions or implications of any particular
reading without giving the author the benefit of doubt or HOW the
argument was made.
making faces, showing expressions of anger or dislike such as grinding
teeth, clinching ones fists, rolling one’s eyes, etc.
preventing the aims and goals of the course and disrupting the learning of
others in a substantial way
In addition, as a Lasallian and Catholic school, I hold all of you responsible to police
each other in maintaining the highest educational standards and codes of conduct in the
class which must always involve mutual respect, tolerance, and civility to each and every
member of the class and community at large. No matter how much you may disagree
with the required readings, there is never a justification for being disrespectful to others
at any time, in class or outside. One of the inevitable positive externalities that arise from
such a course as described above is that to be successful, you must also learn how to
“agree to disagree.”
Saint Mary’s College expects every member of its community to abide by the Academic
Honor Code. According to the Code, “Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of
College policy because, among other things, it undermines the bonds of trust and honesty
between members of the community.” Violations of the Code include but are not limited
to acts of plagiarism. For more information, please consult the Undergraduate Student
Handbook at http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/your-safety-resources/student-handbook.
Appendix 1: Summary and Chronology of Key Eras in Economic Thought
Mercantilist (1500 - 1750): Principal problem-- increase of resources available for
military/financial mobilization by the nascent nation state. Policy levers -- bounties on
exports and restrictions on imports that together lead to an overvalued exchange rate and
a low commodity value of gold and silver within the territory. A nation is "wealthy" if it
can quickly get it hands on enough precious metals to pay for an army abroad.
Commercial (1700 - 1850; Smith 1723-1790, Wealth of Nations, 1776): Principal
problem -- maintaining and enhancing the prosperity of the bourgeoisie. Policy levers -elimination of monopolies; perhaps a low price of grain (as in Ricardo's "Essay on
Profits." Concern with equilibrium level of prices; identification of equilibrium with
nature. A nation is "wealthy" if its economy is growing, if the property of its bourgeoisie
is secure, and if government policies that explicitly hinder enterprise or tax commerce to
support an archaic military nobility are eliminated.
16
Industrial (1850-1940; Marx 1818-1893, Capital Volume I, 1867): Principal problem-harnessing invention and technological progress to increase production. Policy levers -antitrust policy to try to restrict the monopolies that come about because of the
exploitation of economies-of-scale that arise under modern machine technologies.
Concern with the regulation of "natural" monopoly; with the government's role in
providing "infrastructure"; and with the taming of union and socialist movements. Fear
that powerful industrialists -- John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie -- will push
prices well above average costs using monopoly power. A nation is wealth if plutocrats'
power is restricted and if government provides the transportation and public service
infrastructure necessary for industrial cities.
Keynesian (1930-1980; General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, 1936):
Principal problem -- keeping inherent and dynamic fluctuations of investment generated
by the business cycle from creating mass unemployment. Policy levers -- fiscal and
monetary policies to maintain aggregate demand; some degree of investment planning;
incomes policy to improve output-inflation tradeoff; "natural" rate of unemployment. A
nation is "wealthy" if unemployment can be kept low enough so that it does not swing
elections.
Post-Industrial (1975-present): Principal problems -- inconsistency between an economic
system that assumes price can and should equal marginal cost with the approaching
dominance of knowledge and communication industries where marginal cost is
effectively zero, and thus some degree of exercise of monopoly power is omnipresent;
upgrading educational level of labor force fast enough to stop massive deterioration in the
distribution of income. Policy levers --active labor market policies; attempts to establish
an appropriate regime of intellectual property rights; government support of education
and research establishment. A nation is "wealthy" if its high-technology sectors are
dynamic and growing.
Appendix 2: “The Novice” on How to Write: A key to becoming a successful writer in
Economics 102
Most of the novice’s difficulties start with the simple fact that the paper he writes on is
mute. Because it never talks back to him, and because he’s concentrating so hard on
generating ideas, he readily forgets -- unlike the veteran -- that another human being will
eventually be trying to make sense of what he’s saying. The result? His natural tendency
as a writer is to think primarily of himself -- hence to write primarily for himself. Here, in
a nutshell, lies the ultimate reason for most bad writing.
He isn’t aware of his egocentrism, of course, but all the symptoms of his root problem are
there: he thinks through an idea only until it is passably clear to him, since, for his
purposes, it needn’t be any clearer; he dispenses with transitions because it’s enough that
he knows how his ideas connect; he uses a private system -- or no system -- of
punctuation; he doesn’t trouble to define his terms because he understands perfectly well
what he means by them; he writes page after page without bothering to vary his sentence
structure; he leaves off page numbers and footnotes; he paragraphs only when the mood
17
strikes him; he ends abruptly when he decides he’s had enough; he neglects to proofread
the final job because the writing is over… Given his total self-orientation, it’s no wonder
that he fails repeatedly as a writer. Actually, he’s not writing at all; he’s merely
communing privately with himself -- that is, he’s simply putting thoughts down on paper.
I call this “unconscious writing.” The unconscious writer is like a person who turns his
chair away from his listener, mumbles at length to the wall, and then heads for home
without a backward glance.
Basically, all it takes to begin moving from unconscious writing to genuine writing is a
few moments’ reflection on what the writing/reading process ideally involves. Think
about it. What it involves is one person earnestly attempting to communicate with
another. Implicitly, then, it involves the reader as much as the writer, since the success of
the communication depends solely on how the reader receives it. Also, since more than
one person is involved, and since all of us have feelings, it has to be as subject to the
basic rules of good manners as any other human relationship. The writer who is fully
aware of these implications -- the conscious writer -- resembles a person who
companionably faces her listener and tries her level best to communicate with him, even
persuade and charm him in the process, and who eventually bids him the equivalent of a
genuine farewell.
The big breakthrough for the novice writer, then, will occur at the moment he begins to
comprehend the social implications of what he’s doing. Far from writing in a vacuum, he
is conversing, in a very real sense, with another human being, just as I am conversing
right now with you, even though that person -- like you -- may be hours, or days, or even
years away in time. This breakthrough parallels an infants’ dawning realization that a
world exists beyond himself.
Paul Burka, a national Magazine Award-winning journalist and executive editor of Texas
Monthly, told one of my classes, “The hardest thing a writer has to do is curb his selfindulgence.”
“The Novice,” From: John R. Trimble. 2000. Writing with Style: Conversations on the
Art of Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-025713-3
Appendix 3: Important Notes on Writing for this Course
Final Paper Format:

I have few pet peeves you should know about. Some are careless errors, and some are
issues of preference. Paragraphs need to hold together, not be too long or too short,
and the first sentence should give the reader some clue of what the paragraph is about.
Vary your sentences a little for more interesting reading. Your paper should not ramble,
and should make logical sense. Learn to use colons and semicolons properly. For
18
example, a semicolon separates two stand-alone sentences making a similar point. In
the U.S., commas and periods go within the ending quote mark (though not if there is a
citation at the end of the sentence). Don't quote unless the quote is just too good to
pass up; instead, learn to paraphrase. All sentences must have, at minimum, a subject
and a verb. I like papers that try to be objective, and I suggest you avoid being flip,
funny or sarcastic. Don't over-use metaphors: be as specific as possible. You are not
writing poetry. Boring and clear is better than evocative yet vague; and use the active
voice and avoid the passive voice. "The dog bit the man" is better than "the man was
bitten." People often use the passive voice to avoid saying who did something. If you
find yourself doing that, go back and figure out who did what. This is a professional
academic paper and should be treated as such.

The paper should be a maximum of 15 pages, not including the cover page and any
references or tables. It will be submitted to turnitin.com. This paper must be
typewritten and double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around the text, and I prefer
normal fonts of Times Roman 12. It is silly to play with the margins or the fonts just to
make it fit the page target.

Your paper should have a cover page that has your name, my class, the date, the title,
and a one-paragraph abstract that summarizes your paper. You should have an
introduction that begins on page 1, and a conclusion at the end. Use section headings
to clarify your paper's organization. Put page numbers at the bottom, but do not
number the cover page, abstract, or end notes if you use them. Also, any figures or
tables should each be put on their own separate, unnumbered page at the back of the
paper, and they should be referred to in the text as Figure 1 or Table 4, for example.


Citations and References:
Though this is intended to be, at this point, a thought paper more than a research
paper, you will still need to cite any and all sources you use in your paper, and list
your references alphabetically after your conclusion. Do not use footnotes for
citations; use them instead to explain points in more detail if necessary (singlespaced).
When you cite your references, put the name(s), the year after a comma, and the
page number(s) if appropriate after a colon, all in brackets (you may use
parentheses instead, if you prefer). For example, the seven references listed
below would be cited in the text as [Olson, 2000]; [Cargill & Parker,
forthcoming]; [Parker, 1995]; [Banks, Parker, & Wendel, 2001]; [Economist,
1997]; [World Bank, 1993]; and [IMF, 2001]. Don't forget to give page numbers
for a quote or something from a book, e.g., [Olson, 2000: 68-69].
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For sources with more than two authors, cite all authors the first time and then
later use et al. (et alia, Latin for "and others"), though if there are more than three
you can use et al. the first time. For example, source (4) below would be cited as
[Bhattacharyya, et al., 1994]. If you are citing two sources with the same
author(s) and year, cite and reference them with the year plus a, b, c, ..., e.g.,
[Parker, 1995a] and [Parker, 1995b]. You should use full names for historical
figures, but only last names for your research sources.
A citation generally goes at the end of the sentence or phrase, before the ending
punctuation, as in:
Schumpeter emphasized the role of entrepreneurship in driving economic
development [Gregory & Stuart, 1995: 66].
If you quote and then cite, the end-quote marks go before the citation, which goes
before the ending punctuation. If you already mention the author in the text there
is no need to repeat it again, as in:
Hayek [1945] argued that prices served to convey information.
If you are citing the source of a quote, and your citation is at the end of the
sentence, then the ending quotation marks go before the citation, if in:
"In fact, in any society with autocratic governments, an autocrat with the same
incentives as a roving bandit is bound to appear sooner or later" [Olson, 2000:
27].
Though I would probably paraphrase this, or rephrase this as:
Olson [2000: 27] argues that, "in any society with autocratic governments, an
autocrat with the same incentives as a roving bandit is bound to appear sooner or
later."
All citations must be listed alphabetically in a bibliographic section entitled
“References.” All sources in your references must be cited somewhere in the text.
It is not necessary to cite the same source excessively, especially if it is clear that
it is a continuation of the same argument. Use endnotes to explain points in more
detail if necessary, but not to cite sources, and include these in a section at the end
entitled “Notes”. I encourage you to cite relevant material from the assigned
texts.
Finally, you should use quotes sparingly, instead paraphrasing where possible
then citing the source of the idea. Extended quotes should be single spaced and
indented, without quote marks.
20

References go on a separate page entitled "References," and you should list your
sources alphabetically and unnumbered. Here are seven sample references, for
(1) a book, (2) an article in an edited book, (3) an article in a journal, (4) multiple
authors, (5) a newspaper article where no author name is listed, (6) institutional
author, and (7) an internet source where the print version is not available. Books
and journals are underlined (you may use italics instead of underlines if you
wish), while articles are in quotes.
Olson, Mancur (2000), Power and Prosperity (New York, NY: Basic Books).
Olson, Mancur (1997), "The New Institutional Economics: The collective choice
approach to economic development," in Clague, Christopher (ed.), Institutions
and Economic Development : Growth and Governance in Less-Developed and
Post-Socialist Countries (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press).
Hayek, Friedrich A. (1945), "The price system as a mechanism for using
knowledge," American Economic Review 35(4): 519-30.
Bhattacharyya, Arun, Elliott Parker, & Kambiz Raffiee (1994), "An examination
of the effect of ownership on the relative efficiency of public and private water
utilities," Land Economics 70(2): 197-209.
Economist (1997), "Banking in emerging markets" (April 12): 34-37.
World Bank (1993), The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy
(New York, NY: Oxford University Press).
IMF (International Monetary Fund, 2001), International Capital
Markets: Developments, Prospects, and Key Policy Issues <http://www.imf.org/
external/ pubs/ ft/ icm/ 2001/ 01/ eng/ index.htm>.

Lastly, a few terms to be careful of (common sources of vagueness in past papers).
balance
This is a metaphor implying a relation between two quantities. It has specific meanings
in certain phrases: for example "the balance of trade" simply means exports minus
imports. But be careful about using "balance" in a normative fashion (in other words as a
good thing that we should try to achieve) without explaining what is supposed to balance
what, and why.
crisis
A loaded, misused and over-used term. People usually use it to mean that something or
someone is endangered, and some urgency is usually implied. If you use the word be
clear what is in crisis, for whom, and why.
21
the economy
People produce, consume, exchange, lend, borrow, and so forth – all kinds of economic
activity. We can designate the people of a region, nation, or world as a regional
economy, national economy, or world economy. But we’re still talking about a lot of
people doing a lot of different things. You have to be very careful about attributing
behavior or properties to an "economy." “The economy improved,” for example, is
almost meaningless. If you mean total output went up, say so. If you mean
unemployment went down, say so. If you mean inflation fell, say so.
fair, equitable, just
These denote moral judgments. Different people will think different things are fair. So
you need to be clear what concept of fairness or equity or justice is being used.
flow, flowing, circulate, circulation, circulating
If you use these terms be clear what is flowing or circulating.
the market
Markets are institutions that put buyers in touch with sellers. There may be markets in
goods and services, and there may be markets in factors of production like land, labor,
and capital. Financial assets may also be traded on markets. But “the market” in general
has no clear meaning, and should not be used as a synonym for a national economy. If
you are engaged in a theoretical discussion of different ways of allocating goods, as in
markets versus central planning, it might be reasonable to talk about properties of “the
market” in the abstract.
money
Money is a name given to certain kinds of assets. It's really a category of assets -- in
most modern economies, financial assets that are the liabilities of the central bank or
commercial deposit banks -- that can be used to perform certain functions, the most
important being a means of payment. Money is not income. Money is not spending.
Money is not wealth. If you mean income or spending or wealth, use those words.
stable, sound, progressive, good, developed (as opposed to undeveloped or
underdeveloped)
All are vague terms that must normally be defined or specified further. Importantly, they
reflect not semantic difference, but entirely different conceptual approaches relying on a
different set of assumptions. Neoclassicals, for example, use undeveloped whereas
critical development theory uses the term underdeveloped to signify that development is a
process more than a set of techniques. What is endogenous to one school of thought is
exogenous to another.
value
This word is used to denote certain kinds of moral/ethical judgments. It is also
sometimes used to denote the ratios at which things trade. Be clear what it means when
you use it.
22
well-being, social welfare, social good
When people recommend a course of policy they will often say it promotes social wellbeing. (Nobody ever says they want social ill fare or ill-being.) But there is no
consensus whatever on what such well-being or welfare is. Be clear what your criteria
are if you use these terms.
Appendix 4: Internet Resources
A variety of information pertaining to the history of economic thought (including full
texts of many original sources) is now available via Internet. I have compiled a useful
collection below. The two leading intellectuals which you can surf and learn a
tremendous amount of knowledge and which will cement your learning is Professor
David Harvey (New School of Social Research). Students have found his sites extremely
helpful as well as the many you tubes available. It would be very wise to really surf their
sites, as some of they contain the best sources for your paper. Make sure to also watch
Wall Street (the sequel) and my favorite, Inside Job, narrated by Matt Damon.
Biographical Information (and more)
The History of Economic Thought (HET) Homepage includes a fairly extensive
alphabetical index of more than 500 great economists (past and present). It presents
photos/portraits, brief biographical sketches and many links to related topics. A summary
of major schools of thought appears at the end of the list.
http://www.eh.net/HE/HisEcSoc/
Kit Taylor’s Gallery of Economists (parallels Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophers)
http://online.bcc.ctc.edu/econ/econgallery/gallery.htm
Biographies (30) from Blaug’s Great Economists Before Keynes (1986) and Great
Economists Since Keynes (1985)
http://qed.econ.queensu.ca/walras/bios/noted.html
Brad DeLong’s Adam Smith Page (UC Berkeley)
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Economists/smith.html
Brad DeLong’s Keynes Page (UC Berkeley)
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/Economists/keynes.html
Portraits
LSU Portraits of Great Economists
http://www.bus.lsu.edu/academics/economics/links/portrait/portrait.htm
Warren Samuels Collection of Economist Portraits
23
http://www.econ.duke.edu/Economists/
On-Line Texts
McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought (by Rod Hay)
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca:80/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/
Udayan Roy’s Guide to On-Line Supplements in History of Economic Thought
(Refers to Rod Hay’s and Michio Akama’s data bases)
http://phoenix.liu.edu/~uroy/eco54/histlist/hist.html
Carnegie-Mellon On-Line Books (8000+ Entries)
(You may want to click on “subject” and go to Library of Congress classification “HBHJ”. You can also search by author and/or title)
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/subjects.html
Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Smith’s Wealth of Nations (Searchable On-Line)
http://www.adamsmith.org/smith/won-index.htm
University of Bristol contains WON and other great classics in Word and HTML formats
http://www.ecn.bris.ac.uk/het2/het.htm
Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VEBLEN/veblenhp.html
Hal Draper’s The Two Souls of Socialism provides a good brief history of socialism.
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/pamsetc/twosouls/twosouls.htm
Lawrence Boland’s The Foundations of Economic Method (pdf)
http://www.sfu.ca/~boland/book1pdf.htm
Schools of Thought/Methodology
Dead Economists Society (Classical Liberalism)
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/d/jdm114/sts.htm
Early British Economists (Essay by J. S. Nicholson)
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/nicholson/britec
Victorian Economics (Classical economics and opposition) from the Victorian Web
Note that the URL for the complete Victorian web site is:
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/histov.html
History of Macroeconomic Thought (Student Economic Review, University of Dublin)
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/econrev/ser/html/schools.html
24
History of Value Theory (Student Economic Review, University of Dublin)
http://www.economics.tcd.ie/ser/1996/mfogarty.htm
Essay on Neoclassicism (E. Roy Weintraub)
http://www.econ.duke.edu/~erw/erw.homepage.html
Essay on Keynes (Paul Krugman)
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/keynes.html
Brief Summary of History of Economic Thought (Roger McCain)
http://www.eh.net/HE/he_resources/classical.php
General
An index of general themes in history of Political Economy (HOPE)
http://eh.net/HE/
Miscellaneous
Time Line of Western Philosophy
http://library.marist.edu/diglib/philosophy-rel-studies/phil_western.htm
Syllabus for History and Philosophy of Science (Charles Ess, Drury College)
http://www.drury.edu/ess/philsci/philsciov.html
Bill Goffe’s Resources for Economists On the Internet is an exceptionally broad directory
http://econwpa.wustl.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html
The Scout Report for Business & Economics
http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/Current/
ECON Links (Scott Simkins)
http://www.ncat.edu/~simkinss/econlinks.html
The Dismal Scientist (Economic Information)
http://www.economy.com/dismal/
Library of Congress Experimental Search System
http://catalog.loc.gov/
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/index.html
How to Cite Web and Internet Information
http://www.tsufl.edu/library/5/citation.htm
A good one for simply auto-formatting bibliographies:
http://easybib.com/
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Just When You Need a Break
“Celebrity” Economics Majors
http://www.marietta.edu/~ema/econ/famous.html
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