Z: **Archived**: Political Economy 101

Europe Between the Wars: Political Economy 101 (Audio)

Coffee and Tea Audio Podcasts: Europe Between the Wars: Political Economy 101 (Audio):

The pariah states of Weimar Germany and the Soviet Union. The failed attempt to rebuild the pre-World War I order. The policy dilemmas. The view from 1929.

Also at: http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/2007_audio/101_9_20_07.m4a

Smithian-Keynesian Economics Lecture

[PLACEHOLDER]

Downloadable large audio file

Streaming large audio file

Alternative Keynes Readings

Alternative Keynes readings, for those who cannot get Essays in Persuasion:

• From The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money: Chapter 12: The State of Long-Term Expectation, and Chapter 24. Concluding Notes on the Social Philosophy towards which the General Theory might Lead
• The World's Economic Outlook http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/budget/keynesf.htm
• Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/368keynesgrandchildren.html
• How to Organize a Wave of Prosperity http://www.eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/368keynesprosperity.html
• The End of Laissez-Faire http://www.panarchy.org/keynes/laissezfaire.1926.html.

Due Moments for Web Assignments

To satisfy the popular demand for predictability, henceforth all web assignments will be due at:

• 5 PM
• on Tuesdays

Web Assignment 7: Varanya Chaubey: Milton Friedman's Challenge

This page is for Varanya Chaubey's students.

• The page for Ben Peacock's students is here.
• The page for Kristen Durham's students is here.

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A whole host of writers we have read so far in the course--Keynes and Polanyi most strikingly--have strongly argued that the market needs to be tamed or guide or muzzled or regulated or controlled if anything like a free, wealthy, and peaceful civilization is to exist. Milton Friedman says not: Milton Friedman says that the government is not the corrector of the defects and evils of the market and the guardian of freedom and prosperity, but is instead our enemy. The right policy, Friedman says, is to let the market rip. This is a powerful challenge to my conventional social-democratic reflexes.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think the biggest flaw in his argument is. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Friedman but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on October 16.

Web Assignment 7: Ben Peacock: Milton Friedman's Challenge

This page is for Ben Peacock's students.

• The page for Kristen Durham's students is here.
• The page for Varanya Chaubey's students is here.

---

A whole host of writers we have read so far in the course--Keynes and Polanyi most strikingly--have strongly argued that the market needs to be tamed or guide or muzzled or regulated or controlled if anything like a free, wealthy, and peaceful civilization is to exist. Milton Friedman says not: Milton Friedman says that the government is not the corrector of the defects and evils of the market and the guardian of freedom and prosperity, but is instead our enemy. The right policy, Friedman says, is to let the market rip. This is a powerful challenge to my conventional social-democratic reflexes.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think of the argument. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Friedman but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on October 16.

Web Assignment 5: Kristen Durham: Polanyi's Well-Governed Market

This page is for Kristen Durham's students.

• The page for Ben Peacock's students is here.
• The page for Varanya Chaubey's students is here.

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Karl Polanyi's Great Transformation argues that the market economy achives productive efficiency by treating as commodities things--land and labor, chiefly--that it is politically impossible to treat as commodities. This conflict between economic logic and political necessity is, in Polanyi's view, the thing that destroyed the pre-World War I liberal world and led to the rise of socialism and fascism as alternatives.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think is the best way to build on Polanyi's insights to manage the border where economic logic meets political objectives. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Polanyi but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on October 2.

Web Assignment 5: Ben Peacock: Polanyi's Well-Governed Market

This page is for Ben Peacock's students.

• The page for Varanya Chaubey's students is here.
• The page for Kristen Durham's students is here.

---

Karl Polanyi's Great Transformation argues that the market economy achives productive efficiency by treating as commodities things--land and labor, chiefly--that it is politically impossible to treat as commodities. This conflict between economic logic and political necessity is, in Polanyi's view, the thing that destroyed the pre-World War I liberal world and led to the rise of socialism and fascism as alternatives.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think is the best way to build on Polanyi's insights to manage the border where economic logic meets political objectives. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Polanyi but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on October 2.

Web Assignment 4: Kristen Durham's Page: George Orwell's Dilemmas

This page is for Kristen Durham's students.

• The page for Ben Peacock's students is here.
• The page for Varanya Chaubey's students is here.

---

In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell argues that socialism is necessary: that the old capitalist system is too broken and too inhumane to be allowed to continue. Yet he does not find the socialists of his day attractive as a political movement.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think is the best way out of Orwell's various dilemma. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Orwell but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on September 25.

Web Assignment 4: Varanya Chaubey's Page: George Orwell's Dilemmas

This page is for Varanya Chaubey's students.

• The page for Ben Peacock's students is here.
• The page for Kristen Durham's students is here.

---

In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell argues that socialism is necessary: that the old capitalist system is too broken and too inhumane to be allowed to continue. Yet he does not find the socialists of his day attractive as a political movement.

Write a comment of at least 200 words on what you think is the best way out of Orwell's various dilemma. Contribute to the discussion that is ongoing--that is, react and respond to not just Orwell but, to the extent it is appropriate, the earlier posters and commenters on the webpage.

Do this by 5 PM on September 25.