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EC0 42 History of Economic Thought

EC0 42 History of Economic Thought. Professor Malamud BEH 502 895 – 3294 Email: bernard.malamud@unlv.edu Website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/bmalamud Office Hours:TTh 1 – 2 pm; 4 – 5 pm; and by appointment.

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EC0 42 History of Economic Thought

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  1. EC0 42History of Economic Thought Professor Malamud BEH 502 895 – 3294 Email: bernard.malamud@unlv.edu Website: http://faculty.unlv.edu/bmalamud Office Hours:TTh 1 – 2 pm; 4 – 5 pm; and by appointment

  2. ECON 442 History of Economic ThoughtProfessor Malamud, BEH 502course outline:http://faculty.unlv.edu/bmalamud/ • the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back…the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. John Maynard Keynes, General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936) • In the short-run, it is true, ideas are unimportant and ineffective, but in the long-run they can rule the world. Lionell Robbins, The Great Depression (1934).

  3. J.R. Stanfield, The Economic Thought of Karl Polanyi, 1986 • …the gearing of markets into a self-regulating system of tremendous power was not the result of any inherent tendency of markets…but rather of highly artificial stimulants administered…by state intervention. (Polanyi, 1944) Where did the ideas for intervention come from? • Adam Smith…generalized the theory of market self-adjustment operating effectively…throughout the economic cosmos …domestically and internationally, micro-economically and macro-economically. It was Smith’s grand synthesis which articulated the self-regulating system of markets.* • The Millian-Ricardian abstract method started from starkly unqualified assumptions…led immediately and inevitably to sharply laissez-faire doctrines. (Hutchison, 1978) • [British economic advance] is a triumph of theory. We are governed by philosophers and political economists. (Senior,1851) • This London…is the greatest practical illustration…of those principles which it is the business of the political economist to expound. (Cairnes, 1870) * Stanfield’s comment.

  4. Contrasting World Views Chaos Ignorance Animal Spirits Authority Stasis Harmony Natural Law Knowledge Rationality Laissez – faire Progress

  5. Dominant Thoughts and Thinkers: Worldly Philosophers

  6. 1947 Paul A. Samuelson (1970) 1949 Kenneth E. Boulding 1951 Milton Friedman (1976) 1953 No Award 1955 James Tobin (1981) 1957 Kenneth J. Arrow (1972, with John R. Hicks) 1959 Lawrence R. Klein (1980) 1961 Robert M. Solow (1987) 1963 Hendrik S. Houthakker 1965 Zvi Griliches 1967 Gary S. Becker (1992) 1969 Marc Leon Nerlove 1971 Dale W. Jorgenson 1973 Franklin M. Fisher 1975 Daniel McFadden (2000, with James J. Heckman) 1977 Martin S. Feldstein 1979 Joseph E. Stiglitz (2001, with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael Spence) 1981 A. Michael Spence (2001, with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz) 1983 James J. Heckman (2000, with Daniel McFadden) 1985 Jerry A. Hausman 1987 Sanford J. Grossman 1989 David M. Kreps 1991 Paul R. Krugman (2008) 1993 Lawrence H. Summers 1995 David Card 1997 Kevin M. Murphy 1999 Andrei Shleifer 2001 Matthew Rabin 2003 Steven Levitt 2005 DaronAcemoglu 2007 Susan Athey 2009 Emmanuel Saez 2010 Esther Duflo 2011 Jonathan Levin James B. Clark Medalists(subsequent Nobel Awards)

  7. Nobel Laureates in Economics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sveriges_Riksbank_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences_in_Memory_of_Alfred_Nobel Nobel laureates in our course • Paul Samuelson • John Hicks • Milton Friedman • James Tobin • Franco Modigliani • Robert Solow • Gary Becker • Robert Lucas • Finn Kydland/Edward Prescott • Joseph Stiglitz

  8. The Dismal Science as We Know It

  9. Overarching Themes in Economic Thought Valueprices  microeconomics Distribution  factor prices Growth Macro-stability…and its discontents ‘flation BOOM and bust Economic Organization Role of Market Role of State

  10. Wisdom of the Ancients • Oikonomia: run harmonious households&communities Heraclitus (~535 – 475 bc) Harmony thru conflict  Self – regulating market Pythagorus (~582 – 507 bc) Harmony thru numbers  Equilibrium Democritus (~460 – 370 bc) • Diminishing marginal utility • Time preference  present value

  11. Plato (~427 – 347 bc): preserve the status quo“…the State is the soul writ large.” First principles: • Human inequalities  division of labor {good}  social stratification { scientific breeding} • Private property  acquisitiveness {bad}  turbulence Wealth  corruption

  12. Plato’s Ideal Republic: A stationary state Society parallels the mind …the State is the soul writ large • The elite: Communal property/communal women • Philosophers • Soldiers • Shared Austerity Thinking Philosophers Soldiers (Response to scarcity) Fighting No incentive to advance Workers Craving Merchants

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