Embedded Files
Syllabus
Syllabus
Instructor
Instructor
Michal Brzezinski (mbrzezinski at wne.uw.edu.pl)
Course description
Course description
This course is offered for the 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
Course materials and resources
All materials including my PP slides, course readings, advice on giving presentations and writing course papers will appear in due course on this webpage (see below).
Coure organization
Coure organization
Classes for group no. 2 are held on site (Tuesdays, 1:15 - 2:45 PM, Room A201).
Office hours
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
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 (hopefully conducted in a regular, not remote way). The exam consists of 10 short-answer essay questions. You should give answers to 5 of them. The material required for the exam covers all course readings and my presentations. Passing is granted for obtaining at least 50% of exam points.
The weights for these elements are the following: exam (30%), paper (30%), presentation (30%), participation in class discussions (10%).
However, to get a credit for the course you have to get a passable grade on exam (at least get 50% of exam points), and also get a passable grade for the presentation and the paper.
You can have at most 4 unexcused absences.
Textbook
Textbook
Mark Blaug, Economic Theory in Retrospect (A textbook on the history of economic thought that may be helpful in preparing presentations. Advanced level).
Student presentations and course papers
Student presentations and course papers
Instructions for preparing presentations and writing course papers
Formal requirements for course papers
Common errors found in course papers
Detailed course outline
Detailed course outline
Most of the course readings are password-protected (if you do not remember the password email me)
Class 1: 7 October 2022
Topic: Introduction to the course
Class 2: 14 October 2022
Topic: Assigning presentations to students, instructions for writing course papers, discussing papers’ subjects, objectives and bibliography
Class 3: 21 October 2022
Topic: Discussion of course papers
Class 4: 28 October 2022
Topic: Discussion of course papers
Class 5: 4 November 2022
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 6: 18 November 2022
Topic: Mercantilism
Course reading (for presenters only): Mun
Readings for all students:
1) R. Backhouse, Science, Politics and Trade in Seventeenth-Century England
2) J. Becker, German Neo-Mercantilism: Contradictions of a (Non-)Model
Class 7: 25 November 2022
Topic: Adam Smith (student presentation on Adam Smith: 456685)
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 8: 2 December 2022
Topic: Thomas Malthus (student presentation on Malthus: K-14686)
Course reading (for presenters only): Malthus
Class 9: 9 December 2022
Topic: Jean-Baptiste Say (student presentation on Say: K-14904)
Course reading (for presenters only): Say
Class 10: 16 December 2022
Topic: Economics of David Ricardo (student presentation on Ricardo: K-14733, 456074)
Course reading (for presenters only): Ricardo (Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, chapter 31: On Machinery).
Class 11: 13 January 2023
Topic: John Stuart Mill (student presentation on Mill: VE (student number missing))
Course reading (for presenters only): Mill (skip Books II-III, pp. 335-349)
Class 12: 20 January 2023
Topic: Karl Marx (student presentation on Marx and Engels: 447399, 456688); discussing progress with course papers
Course reading (for presenters only): Marx and Engels (present only parts I-II, pp. 14-27)
Class 13: 27 January 2023
Topic: Economics of Karl Marx
Start of the 2nd semester
Class 14: 28 February 2023
Topic: Marginal revolution (student presentation on Jevons)
Course reading (for presenters only): Jevons (present only chapters II-IV, skip chapters I and V)
Class 15: 7 March 2023
Topic: Alfred Marshall (student presentation on Marshall)
Course reading (for presenters only): Marshall (skip Book IV, pp. 505-509)
Class 16: No class on 14 March 2023
Class 17: 21 March 2023
Topic: Max Weber (student presentation on Weber: 454935)
Course reading (for presenters only): Weber
Class 18: 28 March 2023
Topic: Institutionalism and Thorstein Veblen (student presentation on Veblen: 453393, 457507)
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 19-20: 4 April 2023
Topic: Economics of Keynes (student presentation on Keynes: 456695, 456228)
Course reading (for presenters only): Keynes
Keynes, inequality and Piketty
Class 21: 18 April 2023
Topic: Discussing common problems with course papers
Class 22: 25 April 2023
Topic: Milton Friedman (student presentation on M. & R. Friedman's text: 455893, 456232; student presentation on Block's text: 456417)
Course readings (for presenters only): 1) Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to choose, chapter 1; 2) Block
Class 23: 9 May 2023
Topic: Austrian School of Economics (student presentation on Hayek: 455289, 456718)
Course reading (for presenters only): Hayek
Class 24: 16 May 2023
Topic: New Institutional Economics (student presentation on North : 457083)
Course reading (for presenters only): North
Presentation on New Institutional Economics
Class 25: 23 May 2023
Topic: Behavioral economics
Literature for discussion:
T Zaleskiewicz, Behavioral finance, in: Handbook of contemporary behavioral economics, 2015.
Class 26: 30 May 2023
Topic: Modern economic growth theory
Presentation on growth economics
Class 27: 6 June 2023
Topic: Modern business cycle economics
Presentation on modern business cycle economics
Class 28: 13 June 2023
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