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Course title |
Philosophy of Economics |
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Semester |
109-2 |
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Designated for |
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMICS |
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Instructor |
HENDRIK ROMMESWINKEL |
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Curriculum Number |
ECON5146 |
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Curriculum Identity Number |
323EU8320 |
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Class |
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Credits |
3.0 |
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Full/Half
Yr. |
Half |
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Required/
Elective |
Elective |
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Time |
Monday 6,7,8(13:20~16:20) |
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Remarks |
Restriction: juniors and beyond OR Restriction: MA students and beyond OR Restriction: Ph. D students
The upper limit of the number of students: 30. |
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Course
Website |
http://trembling-hand.com/courses/ |
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Course introduction video |
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Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning |
Table of Core Capabilities and Curriculum Planning |
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Course Syllabus
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Please respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not copy any of the course information without permission
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Course Description |
The course trains students to discuss economic concepts from a philosophical perspective. Is economics a science? Do economic models need realistic assumptions? What makes an economic institution “good”? These and other questions are raised in this course.
The course puts a strong emphasis on discussion and debate. Students are required to give two short presentations of research papers and defend the authors' claims in the following discussion. Students are also required to be discussants of other students’ presentations. To train writing interesting and coherent arguments, students write a short paragraph about the debate after class. In the final paper, students examine a recently published research paper from the perspective of one of the topics discussed in class. |
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Course Objective |
The course has two objectives. First, it trains students to discuss economic concepts in speaking and writing. Second, it introduces students to methodological and normative issues on the border of economics and philosophy. |
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Course Requirement |
Read at least one of the papers before class.
After class, write a short argument (paragraph) about one of the papers discussed in class. |
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Student Workload (expected study time outside of class per week) |
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Office Hours |
Appointment required. Note: By appointment |
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Designated reading |
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References |
Extension readings
Hausman, D. M. (1992). The inexact and separate science of economics.
Cambridge University Press.
Survey articles are drawn from the following books:
(SEOP) Salta, E. (2015) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford
University.
(ASS1) Arrow, K. J., Sen, A., & Suzumura, K. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of
Social Choice & Welfare (Vol. 1). North Holland.
(ASS2) Arrow, K. J., Sen, A., & Suzumura, K. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of
Social Choice & Welfare (Vol. 2). Elsevier.
(APP) Anand, P., Pattanaik, P.K., & Puppe, C. (2009) Handbook of Rational
and Social Choice. Oxford University Press.
(DH) Hausman, D. M. (Ed.). (1994). The philosophy of economics: an
anthology. Cambridge University Press. |
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Grading |
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No. |
Item |
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Explanations for the conditions |
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1. |
Short essays |
15% |
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2. |
Class Participation |
25% |
Active participation in discussions |
3. |
Presentations |
25% |
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4. |
Final Paper |
35% |
10 pages maximum length |
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Week |
Date |
Topic |
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Week 1 |
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Part I: The Methodology of Economics
Week 1: Introduction |
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Week 2 |
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Week 2: Academic Writing
Chudnoff, E. (2007). A Guide to Philosophical Writing. Harvard College |
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Week 3 |
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Week 3: Falsifiability and Paradigm shifts
Popper, K. (1963). Conjectures and Refutations. Routledge. (Chapters 1 and 10)
Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press. (Chapters 2,3,4,9)
Survey Articles:
Hands, D.W., (1993) Popper and Lakatos in Economic Methodology. DH
Nickles, T. (2013). Scientific Revolutions, SEOP. |
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Week 4 |
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Week 4: Laws of Nature in Economics
Explanation, Deductive Nomological Model, Statistical Relevance Model
Hempel, C. G., & Oppenheim, P. (1948). Studies in the Logic of Explanation. Philosophy of science, 135-175.
Salmon, W. (1971). Statistical Explanation, in Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance, W. Salmon, (ed.), 29–87, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Survey Articles:
Woodward, J. (2014). Scientific Explanation, SEOP. |
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Week 5 |
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Week 5: Causation
Explanations, Counterfactuals, Causation
Mill, J.S. (1994, 1887). On the definition and method of political economy.
Lewis, D. (1979). Counterfactual dependence and time's arrow. No羶s, 455-476.
Survey Articles:
Menzies, P. (2014). Counterfactual Theories of Causation, SEOP. |
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Week 6 |
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Week 6: Assumptions
Positivism, Assumptions, behavioral economics, microfoundations
Rabin, M. (2002). A perspective on psychology and economics. European economic review, 46(4), 657-685.
Friedman, M. (1953). The methodology of positive economics. Essays in positive economics, Chicago University Press.
Survey Papers:
M瓣ki, U. (2009). Realistic realism about unrealistic models. Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics. |
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Week 7 |
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Week 7: Spring Vacation |
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Week 8 |
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Week 8: Rationality
Preference Axioms, Axiomatizations of expected utility
Chapter 5 from: Savage, L.J. (1954, 1972) The foundations of statistics. New York, Dover Publications.
Harless, D. W., & Camerer, C. F. (1994). The predictive utility of generalized expected utility theories. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 1251-1289.
Survey articles:
Grant, S. & van Zandt, T. (2009). Expected Utility Theory. APP.
Chapter 7 from: Savage, L.J. (1954, 1972) The foundations of statistics. New York, Dover Publications.
Gilboa, I. (2009). Theory of decision under uncertainty (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge university press. |
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Week 9 |
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Week 9: Mid Term (no class) |
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Week 10 |
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Part II: Normative Economics
Week 10: Dutch book arguments
Dutch book arguments.
Hajek, A. (2009). Dutch Book Arguments. APP.
Kennedy, R. & Chihara, C. (1979) The Dutch book argument: Its logical flaws, its subjective sources. Philosophical Studies 36, 19-33.
Gilboa, I., Postlewaite, A. & Schmeidler, D. Synthese (2012) Rationality of belief or: why savage’s axioms are neither necessary nor sufficient for rationality |
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Week 11 |
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Week 11: Social Choice
Arrow's impossibility result, Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem
Chapters 2 and 5: Gaertner, W. (2009) A primer in social choice theory: revised edition. Oxford University Press.
Survey articles:
List, C. (2013). Social Choice Theory, SEOP. |
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Week 12 |
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Week 12: Utilitarianism
Trolley problems, Ford Pinto case, Consequentialism vs. Deontological ethics
Chapters 1 and 2 from: Mill, J.S. (1863) Utilitarianism. London, Parker, Son, and Bourn.
Pattanaik, P. (2009). Limits of utilitarianism as the basis of public action. APP
Survey articles:
Blackorby, C., Bossert, W., & Donaldson, D. (2002) Utilitarianism and the theory of justice. ASS1
Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2011). Consequentialism, SEOP. |
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Week 13 |
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Week 13: Voting
Majority Rule, Borda count, Approval Voting, Random Ballot, Voting power measures
Krishna, V., & Morgan, J. (2012). Majority rule and utilitarian welfare. Available at SSRN 2083248.
Brams, S. J., & Fishburn, P. C. (2005). Going from theory to practice: the mixed success of approval voting. Social Choice and Welfare, 25(2-3), 457-474.
Dummett, M. (1998). The Borda count and agenda manipulation. Social Choice and Welfare, 15(2), 289-296.
Survey articles:
Chapter 6: Gaertner, W. (2009) A primer in social choice theory: revised edition. Oxford University Press. |
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Week 14 |
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Week 14: Equality
Equality, Egalitarianism
Rawls, J. (2009). A theory of justice. Harvard university press. (selected excerpt)
Sen, A. (1979) Equality of what? Tanner lecture on human values.
Survey Articles:
Tungodden, B. (2009) Equality and Priority. APP.
Peter, F. (2009) Rawlsian Justice. APP.
Rawls, J. (2009). A theory of justice. Harvard University press. |
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Week 15 |
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Week 15 Population Ethics
Population Ethics
Derek Parfit (1986). Reasons and Persons. Oxford University Press.
Charles Blackorby, Walter Bossert, and David Donaldson.(2009). Population Ethics. APP. |
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Week 16 |
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Week 16: Freedom
Positive and Negative Liberty, Isaiah Berlin.
Berlin, I. (1958) “Two Concepts of Liberty.” In Isaiah Berlin (1969) Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Week 17 |
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Week 17: Paternalism
Paternalism, Libertarian paternalism, Nudge
Sunstein, C. R., & Thaler, R. H. (2003). Libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron. The University of Chicago Law Review, 1159-1202.
Mitchell, G. (2005). Libertarian paternalism is an oxymoron. Northwestern University Law Review, 99(3).
Survey Articles:
Dworkin, G. (2014) Paternalism, SEOP.
Hausman, D. M., & Welch, B. (2010). Debate: To Nudge or Not to Nudge. Journal of Political Philosophy, 18(1), 123-136. |
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Week 18 |
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Week 18: Final
Final paper due. |
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