January 16 – Introduction to Economics
Hi everyone, I hope you are having a great start to the week. Here is the plan for class on January 16th. Also please see my previous message below.
1 – Introduction and check-in
2 – Student-Led Seminars
3 – Reading discussion
– What is an economy?
– What is capitalism?
– What is the history of political economics?
– What are the politics of economics?
4 – Discussion – what is value? How can we measure value?
5 – Preliminary discussion about the course project
6 – Wrap-up
Previous message:
Hi everyone, it was great meeting you on Monday.
The library says that the book Economics by Ha-Joon Chang is available as an e-book, but I can’t seem to access it. Economics is a better book, but Economics for Everyone is also a great introductory book. The Great Transformation is worthwhile for anyone who isn’t familiar with Karl Polanyi’s work. Here is how you can proceed with the readings for the following two classes. Please read as much as you can under one of the streams.
Stream 1
For Monday, January 16th, read:
Chang, H. (2014) Economics: The User’s Guide
You can also buy the e-version of the book from the publishing company if you want to read it.
Chapter 1: Life, the Universe and Everything: What is Economics? (p. 15 – 22)
Chapter 2: From Pin to PIN; Capitalism 1776 and 2014 (pp. 25 – 34).
Chapter 3: One Fucking Thing After Another: What Use is History? (pp. 37 – 78)
For Monday, January 23rd, read:
Chang, H. (2014) Economics: The User’s Guide
Chapter 4: Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom: How to “Do” Economics (pp. 81 – 122)
Chapter 5: Dramatis Personae: Who are the Economic Actors? (pp. 124 – 144)
Stream 2
For Monday, January 16th, read:
Part 1: The Preliminaries: (pp. 1 – 61)
Introduction (pp. 1 – 14)
Chapter 1: The Economy and Economics (pp. 15 – 30)
Chapter 2: Capitalism (pp. 31 – 40)
Chapter 3: Economic History (pp. 41 – 51)
Chapter 4: The Politics of Economics (pp. 52 – 62)
For Monday, January 23rd, read:
Polanyi, K. (1944 & 2001) The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, Beacon Press (2001 version). (Language bias declaration: this text contains male language biases whereby; people are referred to as Man).
Chapter 4: Societies and Economic Systems (pp. 45 – 58)
Chapter 5: Evolution of the Market Pattern (pp. 59 – 70)
Chapter 6: The Self-Regulating Market and the Fictitious Commodities: Land, Labour and Money (pp. 71 – 80)