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Syllabus
Instructor
Michal Brzezinski (mbrzezinski at wne.uw.edu.pl)
Course description
This course is offered for first-year students at the Faculty of Economics Sciences.
There are two main objectives of the course. First, the course presents the core economic ideas – the economic point of view – from the historical perspective. The economic point of view, understood as a collection of interrelated ideas such as rationality, self-interest, equilibrium, maximization, unintended consequences, invisible hand mechanisms, etc., is presented as evolving from simpler past ideas to modern more complex ones. The course will discuss how the economic point of view was conceptualised in the works of intellectual giants of the economic profession – Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, marginalists, institutionalists, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman and others. Learning the economic point of view by studying simpler historical ideas and models will help students to better understand modern economic science.
The second objective of the course is to develop students’ abilities to do scientific work. Students will learn to give class presentations based on the texts of past prominent economists, take part in in-class discussions, and write a paper in a scientific style.
Course materials and resources
All materials including my PP slides, course readings, and advice on giving presentations and writing course papers will appear in due course on this webpage (see below).
Office hours
Office hours are on Fridays from 3PM to 4.30PM in Room B006 (please email me to set up an appointment).
My webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/brzezinski/
Email (mbrzezinski at wne.uw.edu.pl) is a best mean of communication with me. I try to respond quickly. However, I will not read emails without some greetings, content in the body of the email and closing. In particular, I will not read attachments to emails with no text in the body of the email. See also here for some advice:
Students: How to email to your Professor, employer, and professional peers
Course requirements and grading
You will be required to:
1) give one in-class presentation (using PP or other slides), based on an assigned course reading (see below detailed course outline)
2) write one paper on a chosen topic covering some aspects of economics
3) take part in in-class discussions
4) pass one final exam in the Summer exam session. The exam consists of 10 short-answer essay questions (you answer any 5 quesions). The material required for the exam covers all course readings and my presentations. Passing the exam is granted for obtaining at least 50% of the points.
Grading policy
Exam 40%, Paper 20%, Presentation 30%, Participation 10%.
Passing requirements: minimum 50% on the exam, and minimum 50% on both the paper and the presentation.
Participation & activity points: in Classes 3-20 you can earn 1 activity point per class for substantive contributions.
5 points add +0.5 to your exam grade;
10 points add +1.0 to your exam grade.
15 points give exam exemption. If exempted, your final grade is computed using the following weights: paper 20%, presentation 30%, participation 50%.
You may have at most 4 unexcused absences (excused absences require documentation).
Textbook
Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (A textbook on history of economic thought that may be helpful in preparing presentations. Advanced level).
Student presentations and course papers
Instructions for preparing presentations and writing course papers
Formal requirements for course papers
Common errors found in course papers
Effective Prompts for AI: The Essentials
Detailed course outline
Most of the course readings are password-protected (if you do not remember the password email me)
Class 1: 24 October 2025
Topic: Introduction to the course
Class 2: 7 November 2025
Topic: Instructions for writing course papers, discussing papers’ subjects, objectives and bibliography; assigning presentations to students
Class 3: 21 November 2025
Topic: Aristotle and modern economics; example of in-class presentation by instructor; advice for preparing presentations
Course reading (on which presentation is based): Aristotle’s Politics and Nichomachean Ethics
Additional readings:
1) J. Broome, Utility (read only paragraphs 2.1-2.2)
2) T. Sedlacek, Aristotle
Class 4: 28 November 2025
Topic: Mercantilism (student presentation of Thomas Mun: 483915)
Course reading (for presenters only): Mun
Readings for all students:
1) R. Backhouse, Science, Politics and Trade in Seventeenth-Century England
2) D. Rodrik, What the Mercantilists Got Right
Class 5: 5 December 2025
Topic: Adam Smith (student presentation on Adam Smith: 483552)
Course reading (for presenters only): Smith (skip Book I chapters VI-VII, pp. 162-165 and Book IV chapter VIII-IX, pp. 173-179)
Readings for all students:
1) R. Backhouse, Adam Smith
Class 6: 12 December 2025
Topic: Thomas Malthus (student presentation on Malthus: 488295)
Course reading (for presenters only): Malthus
Readings for all students:
Class 7: 19 December 2025
Topic: Jean-Baptiste Say (student presentation on Say: 486817)
Course reading (for presenters only): Say
Class 8: 9 January 2026
Topic: Economics of David Ricardo (student presentation on Ricardo: 471369)
Course reading (for presenters only): Ricardo (Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapter 31: On Machinery).
Class 9: 16 January 2026
Topic: John Stuart Mill (student presentation on Mill: 487834)
Course reading (for presenters only): Mill (skip Books II-III, pp. 335-349)
Class 10: 23 January 2026
Topic: Karl Marx (student presentation on Marx and Engels: 487879)
Course reading (for presenters only): Marx and Engels (present only parts I-II, pp. 14-27)
Class 11: 13 February 2026
Topic: Marginal revolution (student presentation on Jevons:)
Course reading (for presenters only): Jevons (present only chapters II-IV, skip chapters I and V)
Class 12: 20 February 2026
Topic: Alfred Marshall (student presentation on Marshall: 483468)
Course reading (for presenters only): Marshall (skip Book IV, pp. 505-509)
Class 13: 27 February 2026
Topic: Leon Walras
Class 14: 6 March 2026
Topic: Max Weber (student presentation on Weber: 483651)
Course reading (for presenters only): Weber
Class 15: 13 March 2026
Topic: Institutionalism and Thorstein Veblen (student presentation on Veblen: 483487)
Course reading (for presenters only): Veblen (skip chapters 2 and 5, pp. 613-617, 641-645)
Presentation on Veblen's views on consumption
Presentation on institutionalism
Class 16: 20 March 2026
Topic: Economics of Keynes (student presentation on Keynes: 487887)
Course reading (for presenters only): Keynes
Keynes, inequality and Piketty
Class 17: 27 March 2026
Topic: Milton Friedman (student presentation on M. & R. Friedman's text: K-18281)
Course readings (for presenters only): 1) Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to choose, chapter 1; 2) Block
Class 18: 10 April 2026
Topic: Austrian School of Economics (student presentation on Hayek: 488213)
Course reading (for presenters only): Hayek
Class 19: 17 April 2026
Topic: New Institutional Economics (student presentation on North: 490344)
Course reading (for presenters only): North
Presentation on New Institutional Economics
Class 20: 24 April 2026
Topic: Behavioral economics
Literature for discussion (student presentation on Mullainthan & Thaler: 488342)
Soofi, M., Najafi, F., & Karami-Matin, B. (2020). Using insights from behavioral economics to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Applied health economics and health policy, 18(3), 345-350. Pres
T Zaleskiewicz, Behavioral finance, in: Handbook of contemporary behavioral economics, 2015.
Class 21: 15 May 2026
Individual consultations regarding my comments on your course paper (Room B006)
Class 22: 22 May 2026
Individual consultations regarding my comments on your course paper (Room B006)
Class 23: 29 May 2026
Individual consultations regarding my comments on your course paper (Room B006)
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