Syllabus
Outline Schedule of Assignments: 4+ November: Economic Explanation.
Reading:
PE: Part I, pp. 1-142.
“On a Supposed Antinomy,” by Willard Van Orman Quine. The Ways of Paradox and Other Essays, by Willard Van Orman Quine, Harvard, 1966, Chapter 2, pp. 19-21.
“Philosophy and Economics,” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_and_economics
“Review of Julian Reiss’s Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction,” by Harold Kincaid. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 6(1) Spring 2013, pp. 115-121.
“Goodbye, Homo Economicus,” by Anatole Kaletsky, Real-World Economic Review, 50 September 2009, pp.151-156.
“Fairness and the Assumptions of Economics,” by Daniel Kahneman, Jack Knetch, and Richard Thaler. Journal of Business, 59(4) October 1986, pp. S285-S300.
"Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocity," by Ernst Fehr and Simon Gächter. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3) Summer 2000, pp. 159-181.
"Are Political Economists Selfish and Indoctrinated? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Bruno Frey and Stephan Meier. Economic Inquiry, 41(3) July 2003, pp. 448-462.
"For Ethics and Economics without Dichotomies," by Hilary Putnam. Review of Political Economy, 15(3) July 2003, pp. 395-412.
"Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning: Why Economists Should Re-Engage with Political Philosophy," by Michael Sandel. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 27(4) Fall 2013, pp. 121-140. 11+ November: Economic Methodology.
Reading:
PE: Part II, pp. 143-208.
“What Is Economics Good For?” by Alex Rosenberg et al. New York Times, 24 August 2013.
“Life Among the Econ,” by Axel Leijonhufvud. Western Economic Journal, 11(3) September 1973, pp. 327-337.
“The Economics of Brushing Teeth,” by Alan Blinder. Journal of Political Economy, 82(4) July - August 1974, pp. 887-891.
“Economic Models,” by Allan Gibbard and Hal Varian. Journal of Philosophy, 75(11) November 1978, pp. 644-677.
“Credible Worlds: The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics,” by Robert Sugden. Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism, and Social Construction, by Uskali Mäki, Cambridge 2002, Chapter 5, pp. 107-136.
“Overcoming ‘Physics Envy’,” by Kevin Clark and David Primo. New York Times, 30 March 2012.
“Economics is Very, Very Hard,” by Howard Burton. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 2012.
“The Importance of Misbehaving,” interview with Richard Thaler, Deloitte Review, Issue 18, 2016.
"Comments on Economics Rules by Dani Rodrik,” by Arial Rubinstein, Journal of Economic Literature, 55(1), March 2017, pp., 162–172 .
“Is Economics a Science,” by Robert J. Shiller, Project Syndicate, 6 November 2013.
“Actions, Reasons, and Causes,” by Donald Davidson. Journal of Philosophy, 60(23) November 1963, pp. 685-700.
“Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory,” by Amartya Sen. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6(4) Summer 1977, pp. 317-344.
“The Norm of Self-Interest,” by Dale Miller. American Psychologist, 54(12) December 1999, pp. 1053-1060.
“Tryst with Destiny: Sen in Calcutta and Cambridge,” by Sylvia Nasar. Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius, by Sylvia Nasar, Simon and Schuster, 2011, Chapter XVIII, pp. 446-460.
"Rational Behavior," by Amartya Sen. The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, Palgrave, 1987, Volume 4, pp. 68-76.
“Altruistic Reciprocity,” by Herbert Gintis. Handbook on the Economics of Reciprocity and the Social Enterprise, edited by Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni, Edward Elgar, 2013.
Film: Amartya Sen: A Life Reexamined (date TBA). 18+ November: Normative Economics.
Reading:
PE: Part III, pp. 209-302.
JF: all, pp. i-214.
“Capability and Well-Being,” by Amartya Sen. The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology (Third Edition), edited by Daniel Hausman, Cambridge 2008, pp. 270-293.
Film: Philosophy and Politics (date TBA).
"The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal,” by Amartya Sen. Journal of Political Economy, 78(1) January - February 1970, pp. 152-157.
“The Idea of Global Justice: A Progress Report,” by Samuel Scheffler. Harvard Review of Philosophy, XX 2014, pp. 17-35.
“The Problem of Global Justice,” by Thomas Nagel. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 33 2005, pp. 113-147.
“Why Inequality Matters,” by Thomas Pogge. Global Inequality, edited by David Held and Aysa Kaya, Polity 2007, pp. 132-147.
Cosmopolitan Justice, by Darrell Moellendorf. Westview 2002. pp. 16-20, 30-38, 69-100.
"Golden Age vs. Golden Rule: Capitalists vs. Workers in Growth Theory," by Frank Thompson. Review of Radical Political Economics, 35(1) Winter 2003, pp. 3-17.
“Morally Arbitrary Economic Advantage,” by Frank Thompson. Capitalism on Trial: Explorations in the Tradition of Thomas E. Weisskopf, Elgar, 2013, Chapter 25, pp. 368-380.
“Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” by John Maynard Keynes, Nation and Atheneum, 1930.
“A Model of Rawls' Theory of Intergenerational Justice,” by Frank Thompson. (draft)
Are Generational Savings Unjust?” by Frédéric Gaspart and Axel Gosseries. Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 6(2) 2007, pp. 193-217. 25+ November: Final Exam Study Questions distributed and course exam.
Annotation
Questions in and about economics that are of philosophical interest arise in at least three areas. First, there are questions about the scientific status of economics.
E.g., if economic models are (always!) literally false representations of reality, how can they aid understanding or action? Second, there are puzzles arising within economic theory, especially concerning the notion of rationality. E.g., why model economic agents as homo oeconomicus if such a being would be a 'rational fool'? And third, there are matters concerning the relation between economics and normative questions of economic policy.
E.g., what would be an optimal savings rate in very long run? Such questions are conceptually challenging and there is no consensus on answers. This course explores a selection of such questions.