History of Thought & Public Choice EC 801 (Ph.D.)

Tuesday 4:30pm-7:10pm, Donahue 302

Final Exam December 14th 5:40pm-7:30pm

 

 

Dr. Benjamin Powell

Department of Economics

73 Tremont St.  Office 1020

bpowell@suffolk.edu (best way to reach me)

617-573-8023

http://mail.beaconhill.org/~bpowell/

Office Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 2pm-3:30pm and by appointment

 

This course combines a survey of the history of economic thought with an introduction to graduate level public choice research.  As such, it is impossible to fully cover many of the details of the history of all economic thought. So this course focuses on the history of political economy with an emphasis on the development of ideas that still have relevance to a modern applied public choice research program.  At the conclusion of the course students should have a broad understanding of the main thrust of the modern public choice research program as well as the history of where many of those ideas originated. 

 

Students enrolled in this course intend to become professional economists.  Professional economists not only consume and understand the knowledge other economists produce but they also take that foundation and build new knowledge for others through their own research.  In addition to teaching the formal material in this course an emphasis will be placed on learning how to become a professional economist yourself.  We’ll focus on teaching you how to “see” research ideas through the use of the readings in this course and students will be expected to produce a research paper of their own by the end of the semester.

 

Grading:

 

Midterm:                                              20%

Final Exam:                                           35%

Research Paper & Presentation:            35%

Participation:                                         10%

 

Books:

            Adam Smith                                                     The Wealth of Nations

            F.A. Hayek                                                      Individualism and Economic Order

            Dennis Mueller                                     Public Choice III

            Mancur Olson                                                  Power and Prosperity

            Bryan Caplan                                                   Myth of the Rational Voter

            James Buchanan and Richard Wagner   Democracy in Deficit

             

 

Course Outline

 

1.  Scottish Enlightenment

Sept. 7th

 

Smith, Adam (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of

Nations. Liberty Fund. BK I, Ch. 1-3;  BK II, Ch. 3, 5, BK III, Ch. 1, 3-4, BK IV, Ch. 2.

Smith, Adam (1982 reprint) Lectures on Jurisprudence. (Handout pp. 331-339 and 577-

579). 

Smith, Vernon (1998) “The Two Faces of Adam Smith,” Southern Economic Journal 65

(1): 2-19.

Evensky, Jerry (2005) “Adam Smith’s theory of Moral Sentiments: On Morals and Why

They Matter to a Liberal Society of Free People and Free Markets.”  Journal of

Economic Perspectives 19 (3): 109-130.

Boulding, Kenneth (1971) “After Samuelson, Who Needs Adam Smith?”  History of

Political Economy 3(2): 255-237.

 

2.  Keynes and Hayek on Business Cycles

Sept. 14th

 

Keynes, John Maynard (1936) The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money. 

Preface, Chapter 1, and Chapter 12.

Caldwell, Bruce (1995) Contra Keynes and Cambridge.  Editor’s Introduction and

Chapter 1, Hayek “The Economics of the 1930s as Seen from London.”

Garrison, Roger (2001) Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure. 

Chapters 1, 3, and 4. 

Buchanan, James, and Richard Wagner (1977, 2000) Democracy in Deficit: The Political

Legacy of Lord Keynes.

 

3.  Socialist Calculation Problem

Sept. 21

 

Mises, Ludwig Von. (1920)  “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth.” 

Available at www.mises.org

Hayek, F.A.  (1948) Individualism and Economic Order.  Chapters 4, 7, 8, 9.  

Boettke, Peter (1998) “Economic Calculation: The Austrian Contribution to Political

Economy.”  Advances in Austrian Economics 5: 131-158 (reprinted in Calculation and Coordination).

 

4.  Methodology

Sept. 28th

 

Kirzner, Israel (1960) “Economics as the Science of Human Action” from The Economic

Point of View.  Pp. 146-185

Buchanan, James (1964)  “What should Economists Do?”  Southern Economics Journal

30: 213-222.

Rothbard, Murray (1957) “In Defense of Extreme A Priorism” Southern Economic

Journal 23 (3): 314-320.

Becker, Gary, (1976) “The Economic Approach to Human Behavior.” From The

Economic Approach to Human Behavior.  Pp. 3-14.

Friedman, Milton (1953) “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” From Essays in

Positive Economics.  Pp. 153-184.

Samuelson, Paul (1952) “Economic Theory and Mathematics – An Appraisal.” 

American Economic Review 42 (2): 56-66.

Rothbard, Murray (1976) “Praxeology, Value Judgements and Public Policy.”  In The

Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics.  Pp. 89-111.  

 

5.  Foundations of Public Choice

Oct. 5th

 

Buchanan, James (1979) “Politics Without Romance: A Sketch of Positive Public Choice

Theory and It’s Normative Implications.”  Handout from The Collected Works of

James Buchanan Vol. 1.

Tullock, Gordon (2004) “Economic Imperialism,” “Public Choice,” and “Public Choice

What I Hope for the Next Twenty Five Years.” Handouts from The Collected Works of Gordon Tullock Vol. 1.

Buchanan, James (1986) “The Constitution of Economic Policy” Nobel Prize Lecture. 

Available at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1986/buchanan-lecture.html

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapter 1.

 

MIDTERM EXAM Oct. 12th

 

6.  Origins of the State

Oct. 19th

           

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapter 2.

Olson, Mancur (2000) Power and Prosperity.  Chapters 1, 2, 3.

Buchanan, James (1990) “The Domain of Constitutional Economics.”  Constitutional

Political Economy.  Vol. 1 pp. 1-18.

Powell, Benjamin and Bart Wilson (2008) “An Experimental Investigation into

Hobbesian Jungles.”  Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Vol. 66.

Rothbard, Murray (1973) “The State.” From For a New Liberty.  Handout. 

 

 

7.  Interest Groups and Rent Seeking

Oct. 26th

 

Olson, Mancur (2000) Power and Prosperity.  Chapters 4 and 5.

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapters 15 and 20.

Tullock, Gordon (1967) “The Welfare Costs of Tariffs, Monopolies, and Theft.”  Western

Economic Journal.  Vol. 5. No. 3: 224-232.

Kruger, Anne (1974) “The Political Economy of the Rent Seeking Society.  American

Economic Review.  Vol. 64. pp. 291-303.

Powell, Benjamin and Evgeny Vorotnikov (2010) “Real Estate Continuing Education:

Rent Seeking or Improvement in Service Quality.”  Eastern Economic Journal.  Forthcoming.

 

8.  Bureaucracy

Nov. 2nd

 

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapter 16.

Niskanan, William (1975) “Bureaucrats and Politicians.”  Journal of Law and

Economics.  Vol. 18.  pp. 617-643.

Mises, Ludwig Von (1944) Bureaucracy.  Chapters I, II, and III.  Available online at:

            http://mises.org/etexts/mises/bureaucracy.asp

 

9.  Federalism

 Nov. 9th

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapter 10.

Buchanan, James (1965) “An Economic Theory of Clubs.” Economica.  pp. 1-14.

Tiebout, Charles (1956) “A Pure Theory of Local Government Expenditures.” Journal of

Political Economy.  Vol. 64.  No. 5.  pp. 416-424.

Powell, Benjamin (2004) “Competition and Monopoly Power in Local Government: An

            Extension of Caplan (2001).” Public Choice, Vol. 120. 2004.

Nozick, Robert (1974) Anarchy, State and Utopia.  Book III. 

 

10.  Self-Governance and the Public Choice of the Bloomington School

Nov. 16th (Need to Start Class Early)

 

Ostrom, Elinor (2010) “Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex

Economic Systems.”  American Economic Review 100(3): 641-672.  (This is her revised Nobel lecture).

Ostrom, Elinor (2010) “A Long Polycentric Journey.”  Annual Review Political Science

13: 1-23.

Aligica, Paul, and Peter Boettke (2009) Challenging Institutional Analysis and

Development: The Bloomington School.  Chapters 6, Conclusion, and Post-script.

 

11.  Democratic Efficiency vs. Voter Irrationality

Nov. 23rd

 

Wittman, Donald (1989) “Why Democracies Produce Efficient Results.” 

Journal of Political Economy 97 (6): 1395-1424.

Caplan, Bryan (2007) The Myth of the Rational Voter.

Menken, H.L. (1926) Notes on Democracy Chapter II. (recommended for fun).

 

13. Non Democratic Governance

Nov. 30th

 

Mueller, Dennis (2003) Public Choice III.  Chapter 18.

Olson, Mancur (2000) Power and Prosperity.  Chapters 6, 7 and 8.

Powell, Benjamin, and Edward Stringham (2009) “Public Choice and the Economic

Analysis of Anarchy: A Survey.” Public Choice 140.

Powell, Benjamin, Ryan Ford and Alex Nowrasteh (2008) “Somalia After State Collapse:

Chaos or Improvement.”  Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 67.

 

14.  Research Presentations

Dec. 7th

 

Final Exam December 14th 5:40pm-7:30pm