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Curriculum

Overview

What can economic history and theory tell us about the nature of the human good and about how to achieve it? The discipline of economics has, since its beginnings in the eighteenth century, developed into a powerful set of tools for understanding and explaining human behavior, human prosperity, and the wealth and poverty of nations. Its findings have implications far beyond markets and trade, affecting most aspects of human social institutions, including politics, culture, human psychology, and perhaps even morality. In "Economics and the Human Good," we seek to understand how the basic facts of economic history and philosophy illuminate several questions about human social life, both historically and today, and how they can shape and guide our thinking about the deep and enduring questions of virtue, prosperity, and the human good. 

Specifically, are societies that rely on free markets likely to be  more prosperous? Do they provide more personal freedom?  Are there social and political costs that outweigh any benefits?  Do free trade, open capital markets, and unrestricted migration create opportunity? Do they concentrate wealth and power?  Does the allocation of talent, capital, and goods through the market give rise to a virtuous society and a democratic polity, or do markets, left to their own devices, give rise to corruption and oligarchies?  Can a democratic polity and virtuous society coexist with a market economy, or do democracy and virtue require the creation of a powerful state that can constrain the market? 

Structure and Schedule

The central questions of this program are addressed from the perspectives of economics, political philosphy, and economic and political history. These perspectives are mutually reinforcing: Economic and political events and ideas have shaped each other over time, and the lessons they hold are clearest when such events and ideas are considered as an integrated whole.  Thus, in the mornings, James Otteson will lead discussions of economic and political thinking, while in the afternoons Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber will lead discussions of related economic and political history and policy issues. Both morning and afternoon sessions will include presentations by, and discussions with, prominent guest speakers.

A tentative schedule is below.