POL S 270 A: Introduction to Political Economy

Autumn 2025
Meeting:
MW 10:00am - 11:20am / GWN 301
SLN:
20695
Section Type:
Lecture
Instructor:
POL S MAJORS: COUNTS FOR FIELD C, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ** OR ** FIELD D, AMERICAN POLITICS ** POLITICAL ECONOMY OPTION REQUIRED COURSE
Syllabus Description (from Canvas):

PLEASE NOTE: Prof. Gill maintains very strict standards regarding course participation and assignment deadlines. If you are unable to participate in class discussion on a regular basis, or if you have difficulty turning work in on time, this course may not be for you. Given the difficulties in securing alternative testing space, there will be no make-up exams given in this course.

Prisoner Banner.jpg

Can pirates teach us anything about the economic and political organization of democracies? Are pirates even democratic?! Why would a justice system wherein judges administer poison be an efficient for determining guilt an innocence? Can anybody own the sunshine? Was the Wild, Wild West (circa 1860-1900) really as violent as westerns portrayed it? Why doesn't anybody ever eat the last donut at a faculty meeting? Are birthday presents a deadweight loss on our economy, and should we forgo the wrapping paper and just give cash to one another? And, finally, why would anybody leave a tip at a restaurant they know they would never return to? These, and many more, puzzles will be answered over the course of eleven weeks in Autumn 2025. If you are the curious type, you need to enroll in this class pronto!

     POL S 270 introduces students to the basic concepts and theories of political economy including trade-offs, incentives, transaction costs, prisoners' dilemmas, collective action, public goods, externalities, principal-agent problems, property rights, tragedy of the commons, rational choice theory, and systems of government and governance. As a pedagogical framing mechanism, students are asked to imagine that they are stranded on a deserted island and must think about building a functioning economy and system of governance. To do this, they will need to gain knowledge of how humans (themselves and others) make choices that affect the production and distribution of resources in society.

     Unlike your typical Econ 101 course that is filled with equations and graphs that students must memorize (and rarely understand), we seek to build an intuitive understanding of how an economy operates and the role that governance plays in creating prosperity. This is achieved by reading about pirates, cowboys, conflicts over sunshine, prisoner of war camps, poisonous justice systems, tipping at restaurants, gift-giving, why communal refrigerators stink, and why no one ever finishes the last morsel of donuts at business meetings. 

      Textbooks include Harold Winter's Trade-Offs (Vol. 3), Peter Leeson's The Invisible Hook, Anderson & Hill's The Not So Wild, Wild West, and Michael Munger's Tomorrow 3.0. There are also a number of articles assigned including Peter Leeson's "Sassywood," F.A. Hayek's "The Use of Knowledge in Society," R.A. Radford's "The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp," and Gill & Thomas's "The Dynamic Efficiency of Gifting." There will be roughly 90 pages of reading per week assigned and students are expected to stay on top of those readings. Students will be strongly encouraged to purchase physical copies of the textbooks instead of online versions.

     Grading for the course will consist of three in-class essay exams, an online syllabus quiz, weekly assignments that probe the course readings, and discussion section participation. My teaching style is inspired by Prof. Paul Heyne who lead one of the most popular economic courses at the UW until his death in 2000. I aspire to carry on that tradition with dynamic lectures that draw upon the economic style of Steven Landsburg, Peter Leeson, Michael Munger, and others. My lectures are known for high energy, humor, and awesome bumper music. The meta-theme for this year's class is The Prisoner.

For more information, please reread this webpage.
For more information about the professor, visit https://anthonygill.org.

 

 

Catalog Description:
Political economy as a tool for understanding and evaluating the political world. Combines theory, methods, and insights derived from economics and political science and applies them to a range of substantive issues. Course equivalent to: TPOL S 270.
Department Requirements Met:
International Relations Field
American Politics Field
Political Economy Option
GE Requirements Met:
Social Sciences (SSc)
Credits:
5.0
Status:
Active
Last updated:
May 22, 2025 - 6:20 am