- Summer 2020
Syllabus Description:
Summer 2020
The University of Washington
POLS 270: Introduction to Political Economy
Full Term, Online
5 Credits
Instructor: Travis Nelson
Office hrs: Online
Office: GWN 36
This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of Political Economy. The course will be broken into two components. The first component of the class focuses on some of the early thinkers in Political Economy, including Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. The second component of the course will be focused on topics in Political Economy, including Rational Choice Theory, Game Theory, Trade, and Development.
There is one book assigned for the class, The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner. The rest of the readings will be provided as PDFs. The course grade will largely be based on two exams, online discussion boards, and a research paper.
Please see full syllabus for details.
Week 1: Foundations of Political Economy
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- Readings/Lecture:
- Heilbroner Chapters 1 & 2 "Introduction" & "The Economic Revolution"
- Recommended: Caporaso and Levine Introduction and Chapter 1 "Introduction" & "Politics and Economics"
- Readings/Lecture:
Week 2: The Classics
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- Readings/Lecture:
- Heilbroner Chapters 3 & 4 ``The Wonderful World of Adam Smith'' & ``The Gloomy Presentiments of Parson Malthus and David Ricardo''
- Caporaso and Levine Chapter 2 ``The Classical Approach''
- Readings/Lecture:
Week 3: Marxism
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- Readings/Lecture
- Heilbroner Chapters 5 & 6, ``The Dreams of the Utopian Socialists'' & ``The Inexorable System of Karl Marx''
- Caporaso and Levine Chapter 3 ``Marxian Political Economy''
- Readings/Lecture
Week 4: Keynes and Friedman
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- Readings/Lecture
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- Heilbroner Chapter 9 ``The Heresies of John Maynard Keynes''
- Paul Krugman. Who Was Milton Friedman? New York Review of Books, pages 1--13, February 2007
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Week 5: Behavior versus Rational Choice
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Readings/Lecture
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- Caporaso and Levine Chapter 6 ``Economic Approaches to Political Economy''
- Only Read pp. 1471-1481 Jolls, Sunstein, and Thaler. ``A Behavioral Approach to Law and Economics'' Stanford Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 5 (May, 1998)
- Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler. ``The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias'' Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 5, Number 1, Winter 1991, Pages 193--206
- Exam 1
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Week 6: Political Economy of Trade
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- Readings/Lecture
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- Gustavo A. Flores-Macías and Sarah E. Kreps. ``The Foreign Policy Consequences of Trade: China's commercial relations with Africa and Latin America, 1992-2006.'' The Journal of Politics 75.2 (2013): 357-371.
- Jen Kirby, "USMCA: Trump's new NAFTA deal, explained in 600 words."
- See: https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-trade-war-china-date-guide
- Trade: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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Week 7: Globalization and Development
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- Readings/Lecture
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- Deborah Solomon, ``Questions for Dambisa Moyo: The Anti-Bono,'' New York Times Magazine (19 February 2009).
- Nicholas Kristof, ``Where Sweatshops are a Dream,'' The New York Times (14 January 2009).
- Silverstein, Ken. ``Shopping for Sweat: The human cost of a two-dollar T-shirt,'' Harper's Magazine (January 2010).
- Easterly and Pfutze. ``Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid,'' Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22 (2): 29-52. 2008.
- Populism is reshaping our world | The Economist
- Optional Videos
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Week 8: Political Economy of Health: Global Health
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- Readings/Lectures
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- Chapter 1 and 4, Mojola, S.A.. ``Love, Money, and HIV: Becoming a Modern African Woman in the Age of AIDS''
- Research Paper Due
Week 9: Political Economy of Health: US Healthcare
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- Readings/Lectures
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- Baicker et. al ``Saving Money or Just Saving Lives? Improving the Productivity of US Health Care Spending,'' Annual Review of Economics 2012 4:1, 33-56
- For COVID-19 discussion see IHME Website