syllabus11

Public Policy Problems Economics 20A

Professor Woolf Fall 2005

General Information:

Phone: 656-0190

Office: 339 Old Mill

Class meeting time: Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 – 12:15 Old Mill Annex 202

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 to 10:00. You don’t need to make an appointment to see me at those times, but if you can’t make those hours and want to schedule a meeting at some other time, we can arrange that.

Books:

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Russell Roberts, The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism

The Course:

Economics, unfortunately, has been known as the “dismal science.” Far from being dismal or depressing (or even difficult), economics provides us with powerful tools for understanding the world around us. This course is designed to give you the basic toolkit that economists use to understand our economy and society. The class will focus on basic economic concepts and apply them to a variety of current economic and social problems. In addition to the books on the reading list, we will be reading a variety of articles in newspapers and magazines and use economic reasoning to discuss them.

Grading:

Your course grade will be determined by class participation and papers. You will be required to write a number of short papers throughout the course on articles dealing with the policy problems that we are discussing. The short papers will count for 70% of your grade. The remaining 30% will be determined by your participation in class discussions and class presentations.

Course Schedule:

The following is a timetable for the course. I expect you to do the assigned readings before the class period. We will try to stick to this schedule, but it is subject to change. Other readings will be assigned during the semester and will be available either on the web or will be emailed to you or be put on reserve at Bailey Howe.

Aug 30 Introductory Materials

I. Basic Economic Concepts

Sept 1, 6 A. Markets

1. Leonard Reed, “I, Pencil” at http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Economics/ReadIPencil.html

2. William Radford, The Economic Organization of a POW Camp, Economica, 1945 at http://www.albany.edu/~mirer/eco110m/pow.html

Sept 8, 13 B. Property Rights

John Tierney, “A Tale of Two Fisheries,” New York Times, August 27, 2000. http://www.gametheory.net/News/Items/052.html

II. Applications from Freakonomics

Sept 15 The Role of Incentives: Levitt, pp. 1-15 and Ch 1

Sept 20 The Role of Information in an Economy: Levitt Ch 2

Sept 22 Profits and Rents: Levitt Ch 3

Sept 27 Economic Decisionmaking: Levitt Ch 4

Sept 29, Oct 4 Catch up time

III. Trade and Globalization

Oct 6 No Class

Oct 11 Frederic Bastiat: A Petition (ch 7) at http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html

Oct 13 Roberts Ch1-4

Oct 18 Roberts Ch 5-8

Oct 20 Roberts Ch 9-12

Oct 25 Roberts Ch 13-16

Oct 27 – Dec 6 IV. Other Policy Issues (to be decided by class):