Major Ideas in Modern Political Economy

The course analyses particular texts of a series of modern theorists. Each week is devoted to discussion of a major writer from 18th century to the present, who has shaped modern economic and political thought. Writers studied include: Jean Jaques Rousseau, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Richard Cobden, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Friedrich List, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, V.I. Lenin, Bernard Bosanquet, Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich von Hayek and John M. Keynes. The discussion addresses cultural context and general world views. The course requires frequent short papers and is useful for relating economics and politics by putting economic doctrines in general historical and philosophical context.