Spring 2014 - Peter Boettke
Professor Peter Boettke Econ 676 Wed., 4:30-7:00 Enterprise 318 Comparative Political Economy -Spring 2014-
Dear Prospective Students for Econ 676/Spring 2014 I wanted to write briefly so that we can all get on the same page for the Spring term. First, there will be 3 required textbooks --- 2 you are expected to read prior to the first class over the December-January break. The 3rd one we will read during the first 6 weeks of class. The books are: Heyne, Boettke and Prychitko, The Economic Way of Thinking, 13th edition. Prentice Hall, 2014. Kasper, Streit, and Boettke, Institutional Economics: Property, Competition, Politics, 2nd Edition. Edward Elgar, 2012. I will be giving a test on our first class meeting that will be based on these two books. It is not a filter to weed out students, but instead to establish a baseline in our effort to learn how to engage in comparative institutional analysis. If you perform poorly, it will tell that you must return to basics and pay more attention to your understanding of the elementary principles of economics and how they are applied to assess alternative institutional arrangements. My focus is not to stump you, nor is it to humiliate you as advanced students of economics by exposing weaknesses in elementary understanding of the principles of our discipline, it is instead, for the sole purpose of establishing a baseline similar to the way you would establish a baseline before starting a serious fitness plan for the next 3-4 months. We need to return again and again to elementary principles in the economic way of thinking from my perspective (what could be termed “Basic Economic Reasoning”) to be able to grasp the answers to problems that plague the developing and transitioning world, and even the problems that plague the advanced economies of the democratic west. A theme I hope to persuade you of is that in both the science of economics and the art of political economy simple economics is not simple-minded. In point of fact, what is most needed even in the most extraordinary of times is the ordinary economics learned in elementary books in the discipline.
The exam will be designed to be roughly 2 hours. The course book we will work with during the semester will be: Acemoglu, An Introduction to Modern Economic Growth. Princeton, 2008. The focus for this course will be Part VIII, but you need to master the earlier discussions about growth theory and development economics. I want you to take seriously the position that James Buchanan argued is what political economists must do: "Political economists stress the technical economic principles that one must understand in order to assess alternative arrangements for promoting peaceful cooperation and productive specialization among free men. Yet political economists go further and frankly try to bring out into the open the philosophical issues that necessarily underlie all discussions of the appropriate functions of government and all proposed economic policy measures.” As a class in positive political economy, Econ 676 is focused on the first sentence. As a result, you need to master the technical arguments not only to learn the language of our profession, but to be able to understand the implications of alternative institutional arrangements. In addition to Acemoglu, during the first 6 weeks of the class we will discuss in detail the Nobel lectures of Hayek (1974), Buchanan (1986), Coase (1991), North (1993), Vernon Smith (2002), and Elinor Ostrom (2009). These prize lectures will be the starting point of each of my lectures for those 6 weeks and the broader implications of the argument for the topic of comparative political economy. My lectures will constitute 90 minutes of each class session and we will critically discuss material from the text or the Nobel lectures. After 6 weeks, you will have a little more than a month off of class but be engaged in assigned research projects. It is my plan to divide the class into groups of 3 and you will be given a topic to explore. The topic will roughly be a sort of "natural experiment" in modern economic history from the US, post-Soviet, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The team will be expected to provide a full blown analytic narratives of development (see, e.g., not only the Bates, et. al., Analytic Narratives, but Dani Rodrik's In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth). The topics will all relate to the political economy of crises, and the team members will be responsible for developing a framework consistent with what we talked about in the first 6 weeks, to offer a detailed historical narrative of the situation, and a more traditional empirical analysis of the situation. You will each
receive 2 grades for the written project -- the grade on the section where you had primarily responsibility and the overall quality. It is my desire here to incentivize each member to not free ride. To keep accurate accountability, when we first meet as a group you will tell me who is taking ownership for each part of the project. After a month of research and writing, we will all come back to meet for the remainder of the term to discuss the different projects and critique them. Each group will be responsible to provide a formal presentation to the group of their paper, and they will receive a grade based on the professional quality of the presentation. The grade for the class will be determined based on your baseline test, the two grades from your paper, and the grade on the presentation. I am very much looking forward to working with all of you in the class and outside of the class next term as we mutually strive to become better political economists. P.S.: As background, I suggest going to Marginal Revolution University and sampling the lectures on Economic Development (http://mruniversity.com/courses/development-economics-0)
Semester Schedule DATE
TOPIC
READING
January 22
Baseline Assessment in Economics and Political Economy
Heyne, et. al., The Economic Way of Thinking
January 29
The Mechanics of Economic Development
Kasper, et. al., Institutional Economics Heyne, et. al., chapter 2, 13; 15 Kasper, et. al., chapter 1-6
Feb 5
The Problems of Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
+Acemoglu, chapter 1-4; epilogue Heyne, et. al., chapter 13-15 Kasper et. al., chapter 7; 11; 13 +Acemoglu, chapter 5-7; 20-21
Feb 12
The Constitutional Level of Analysis
+Hayek 1974 Heyne, et. al., chapter 11; 15 Kasper, et. al., chapter 10; 12 +Acemoglu, chapter 22-23
Feb 19
New Institutional Economics and Economic Performance Through Time
+Buchanan 1986 Heyne, et. al., chapter 9-10 Kasper, et. al., chapter 7-9 +Acemoglu chapter 12; 14; 1819
Feb 26
Ecological Rationality and Human Sociability
+Coase 1991 +North 1993 Heyne, et. al., chapter 1-5; 7-8 Kasper, et. al., chapter 3-6 +Acemoglu chapter 8; 10
March 5
The Institutional Analysis of Development
+V. Smith 2002 Heyne, et. al., chapter 10-11; 15-16 Kasper, et. al., chapter 10; 12; 13-14 +Acemoglu chapter 22-23 +Ostrom 2009
March 12 March 19 March 26 April 2 April 9 April 16 April 23 April 30 May 7
SPRING BREAK Meeting with Group 1-2 Meeting with Group 3-4 Meeting with Group 5-1 Meeting with Group 2-3 Meeting with Group 4-5 Presentation by Group 1-2 Presentation by Group 3, 4, 5 Presentation time if needed*
+ Indicates required reading. *At the time of the writing of this syllabus, the enrollment is 15 graduate students, and 1 visiting undergraduate student. Obviously, the composition and number of research teams is subject to change depending on the numbers in the classroom.
Dear Prospective Students for Econ 676/Spring 2014 I wanted to write briefly so that we can all get on the same page for the Spring term. First, there will be 3 required textbooks --- 2 you are expected to read prior to the first class over the December-January break. The 3rd one we will read during the first 6 weeks of class. The books are: Heyne, Boettke and Prychitko, The Economic Way of Thinking, 13th edition. Prentice Hall, 2014. Kasper, Streit, and Boettke, Institutional Economics: Property, Competition, Politics, 2nd Edition. Edward Elgar, 2012. I will be giving a test on our first class meeting that will be based on these two books. It is not a filter to weed out students, but instead to establish a baseline in our effort to learn how to engage in comparative institutional analysis. If you perform poorly, it will tell that you must return to basics and pay more attention to your understanding of the elementary principles of economics and how they are applied to assess alternative institutional arrangements. My focus is not to stump you, nor is it to humiliate you as advanced students of economics by exposing weaknesses in elementary understanding of the principles of our discipline, it is instead, for the sole purpose of establishing a baseline similar to the way you would establish a baseline before starting a serious fitness plan for the next 3-4 months. We need to return again and again to elementary principles in the economic way of thinking from my perspective (what could be termed “Basic Economic Reasoning”) to be able to grasp the answers to problems that plague the developing and transitioning world, and even the problems that plague the advanced economies of the democratic west. A theme I hope to persuade you of is that in both the science of economics and the art of political economy simple economics is not simple-minded. In point of fact, what is most needed even in the most extraordinary of times is the ordinary economics learned in elementary books in the discipline.
The exam will be designed to be roughly 2 hours. The course book we will work with during the semester will be: Acemoglu, An Introduction to Modern Economic Growth. Princeton, 2008. The focus for this course will be Part VIII, but you need to master the earlier discussions about growth theory and development economics. I want you to take seriously the position that James Buchanan argued is what political economists must do: "Political economists stress the technical economic principles that one must understand in order to assess alternative arrangements for promoting peaceful cooperation and productive specialization among free men. Yet political economists go further and frankly try to bring out into the open the philosophical issues that necessarily underlie all discussions of the appropriate functions of government and all proposed economic policy measures.” As a class in positive political economy, Econ 676 is focused on the first sentence. As a result, you need to master the technical arguments not only to learn the language of our profession, but to be able to understand the implications of alternative institutional arrangements. In addition to Acemoglu, during the first 6 weeks of the class we will discuss in detail the Nobel lectures of Hayek (1974), Buchanan (1986), Coase (1991), North (1993), Vernon Smith (2002), and Elinor Ostrom (2009). These prize lectures will be the starting point of each of my lectures for those 6 weeks and the broader implications of the argument for the topic of comparative political economy. My lectures will constitute 90 minutes of each class session and we will critically discuss material from the text or the Nobel lectures. After 6 weeks, you will have a little more than a month off of class but be engaged in assigned research projects. It is my plan to divide the class into groups of 3 and you will be given a topic to explore. The topic will roughly be a sort of "natural experiment" in modern economic history from the US, post-Soviet, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The team will be expected to provide a full blown analytic narratives of development (see, e.g., not only the Bates, et. al., Analytic Narratives, but Dani Rodrik's In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth). The topics will all relate to the political economy of crises, and the team members will be responsible for developing a framework consistent with what we talked about in the first 6 weeks, to offer a detailed historical narrative of the situation, and a more traditional empirical analysis of the situation. You will each
receive 2 grades for the written project -- the grade on the section where you had primarily responsibility and the overall quality. It is my desire here to incentivize each member to not free ride. To keep accurate accountability, when we first meet as a group you will tell me who is taking ownership for each part of the project. After a month of research and writing, we will all come back to meet for the remainder of the term to discuss the different projects and critique them. Each group will be responsible to provide a formal presentation to the group of their paper, and they will receive a grade based on the professional quality of the presentation. The grade for the class will be determined based on your baseline test, the two grades from your paper, and the grade on the presentation. I am very much looking forward to working with all of you in the class and outside of the class next term as we mutually strive to become better political economists. P.S.: As background, I suggest going to Marginal Revolution University and sampling the lectures on Economic Development (http://mruniversity.com/courses/development-economics-0)
Semester Schedule DATE
TOPIC
READING
January 22
Baseline Assessment in Economics and Political Economy
Heyne, et. al., The Economic Way of Thinking
January 29
The Mechanics of Economic Development
Kasper, et. al., Institutional Economics Heyne, et. al., chapter 2, 13; 15 Kasper, et. al., chapter 1-6
Feb 5
The Problems of Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
+Acemoglu, chapter 1-4; epilogue Heyne, et. al., chapter 13-15 Kasper et. al., chapter 7; 11; 13 +Acemoglu, chapter 5-7; 20-21
Feb 12
The Constitutional Level of Analysis
+Hayek 1974 Heyne, et. al., chapter 11; 15 Kasper, et. al., chapter 10; 12 +Acemoglu, chapter 22-23
Feb 19
New Institutional Economics and Economic Performance Through Time
+Buchanan 1986 Heyne, et. al., chapter 9-10 Kasper, et. al., chapter 7-9 +Acemoglu chapter 12; 14; 1819
Feb 26
Ecological Rationality and Human Sociability
+Coase 1991 +North 1993 Heyne, et. al., chapter 1-5; 7-8 Kasper, et. al., chapter 3-6 +Acemoglu chapter 8; 10
March 5
The Institutional Analysis of Development
+V. Smith 2002 Heyne, et. al., chapter 10-11; 15-16 Kasper, et. al., chapter 10; 12; 13-14 +Acemoglu chapter 22-23 +Ostrom 2009
March 12 March 19 March 26 April 2 April 9 April 16 April 23 April 30 May 7
SPRING BREAK Meeting with Group 1-2 Meeting with Group 3-4 Meeting with Group 5-1 Meeting with Group 2-3 Meeting with Group 4-5 Presentation by Group 1-2 Presentation by Group 3, 4, 5 Presentation time if needed*
+ Indicates required reading. *At the time of the writing of this syllabus, the enrollment is 15 graduate students, and 1 visiting undergraduate student. Obviously, the composition and number of research teams is subject to change depending on the numbers in the classroom.
