1.- Introduction to
the subject matter of economics:
The economic problem. Resource allocation: alternative
approaches, the free market versus central planning. Discuss the meaning of "resource
allocation" and outline the main alternative methods of allocating resources.
Concepts for Review: Economic resources, resource allocation, production possibility
curves, supply, demand, competition, profitability and the free market, central planning
and bureaucracy, factors of production, distribution of income, factor mobility
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Notes on the philosophy of the capitalist
system
- Notes on economics:
assuming scarcity
- Notes on economics: about obscenities,
poverty and inequality
Andre
Gunder Frank (1992) on:
Marketing
Democracy in an Undemocratic Market
"...When Gandhi was asked what he thought of
"Western Civilization," he answered "it would be a good idea." We can
say as much of development and democracy as well. However, for the Third World,
"democracy" is likely to become no more real in the future than
"development," or Western Civilization for that matter, did in the past. Instead
like the latter, "democracy" may well become a flag - or the figleaf - for
continued exploitation and oppression of the South by the North.
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2.- The history of
economic thought [1]:Classical economics: the economic thought of Smith, Ricardo
-problems of value, production and distribution, and economic growth. Karl Marx and the
role of surplus value in the capitalist system of production. Discussion of the central
principles of classical economics. Value theory and the long-term prospects for the
capitalist economy in the classical and marxist thought.
Concepts for review: Free market, competition, Smith's theory of value, the invisible
hand, laissez faire, the labour theory of value, Marx's concept of surplus value, the rate
of profits, capital accumulation, business cycles, Marx's concept of crises.
3.- The history of
economic thought [2]:
Principles of neo-classical economic thought; price
theory and allocation of resources. Post 1945 economic thought: the rise and fall of
keynesianism and monetarism. Outline the main differences between the neo-classical,
keynesian and monetarist schools of thought as related to inflation, unemployment,
economic growth and state involvement in the economy.
Concepts for review: Price determination, allocation of resources, supply and demand,
Say's law, aggregate demand and aggregate supply, the quantity theory of money, the public
sector borrowing requirement. |
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4.- The theory of
production [1]:
The firm's costs and revenues. Price and output
determination in conditions of perfect competition. Allocation of capital and labour. The
perfect competition model of price and output determination. How real?
Concepts for review:Fixed costs, variable costs. Total, average and marginal costs. Total,
average and marginal revenues. Profit maximization ( normal and abnormal profits ) in the
long and short run.
5.- The theory of
production [2]:
Oligopoly and Monopoly. Effects of oligopoly and
monopoly on levels of employment, price and output. Contradiction between maximization of
profits and maximization of employment. Globalization and oligopolies: transnational
corporations. Comparing perfect competition and monopoly competition. The case of
environmental damage.
Concepts for review: Economies and dis-economies of scale. Efficiency of production. The
role of abnormal profits in research and development. The role of abnormal profits in
patterns of consumption. The role of abnormal profits in distribution of income.
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A typical textbook on capitalist economics:
Introduction to Economic Analysis
by R. Preston McAfee
California Institute of Technology
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6.- The theory of
distribution:
Determination of the returns to factors of production:
rent, interest, profits, and wages. The labour market and wage determination. Demand
for labour as "derived". Wage differentials. What determines wage rates? Why do
wage rates differ? How do they differ in the U.K.?
Concepts for review: Marginal productivity. Law of diminishing returns. Supply of and
demand for factors of production. Competitive ( deregulated ) labour markets. Monopolies
and monopsonistic labour markets. Trade unions bargaining power: economic effects.
7.- The economics of
income distribution:
Causes of income inequality. Trends in income
inequality. The case against income inequality. The case for income inequality. The
"invisible" poor. Two points of view: personal shortcomings? Social
victims? The rationale of a social security system. Discuss, bringing some evidence to the
discussion, the cases against and for income inequality in a capitalist system
Concepts for review: underemployment, relative poverty, absolute poverty, welfare state.
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- Inequality/social exclusion
- Poverty
- Informal sector
- Microfinance
- PRSP
- U.S. economic inequality, poverty, social exclusion and corruption
- Economic inequality,
poverty, and social exclusion in Latin America
- Economic inequality,
poverty, social exclusion and corruption in China |
8.- The national
income:
Definitions and measurements. Problems of
measurements. Uses and reliability of national income statistics. Outline some of the uses
of national income figures, and discuss the reliability of the statistics in relation to
these uses.
9.- National income
determination [I]:
Circular flow of income. Investments, government
spending and exports. Saving, taxation, imports. The concept of equilibrium level of
national income. The concept of aggregate demand - consumption, investment and government
expenditure. Use circular flow analysis to explain the concept of the equilibrium level of
the national income.
10.- National income
determination [II]:
Aggregate demand - theories of consumption,
investment, and government spending. What factors determine aggregate consumption?
11.- National income
determination [III]:
Aggregate demand and Aggregate supply and the
equilibrium level of national income.The multiplier and accelerator principles and changes
in national income.
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12.- Money and Banking:
Functions and measurement of money. The process of
credit creation. The relationship between central bank and the commercial banks, The
demand for money and the rate of interest.
What is the 'money supply', and what determines its rate of expansion?
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13.- Managing the
Economy [I]:
The main objectives of macroeconomic policy and the
conflicts between these objectives.The instruments of policy - fiscal and monetary
polices, prices and incomes policies, exchange rates and import controls. Explain why
there are likely to be conflicts between the major objectives of economic policies.
14.- Managing the
Economy [II]:
Unemployment - definitions and measurement. Recent
trends in unemployment. Causes of unemployment. Inflation and unemployment. Keynesian and
Monetarist approaches. What is meant by 'full employment'? Critically discuss the view
that full employment is no longer an achievable objective of economic policy in the U.K.
15.- Managing the
Economy[III]:
Inflation - definition and measurement. Causes and
cures. Keynesian and Monetarist explanations. What caused the significant rise in
inflation at the end of the 1980's in the U.K.
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United
Nations Research Institute for Social Development
on Rethinking
Development Economics:
- A
Brief Note on the Decline and Rise of Development
Economics
- An
Agenda for the New Development Economics
- Beyond
Macroeconomic Concerns to Development Issues
- Challenges
of Economic Development
- Development
Economics: A Call to Action
- Development
Economics: Coping with New Challenges, Especially
Globalization
- Development
Studies or Development Economics: Moving forward from
TINA
- Economic
Development and the Revival of the Classical Surplus
Approach
- Enclavity
and Constrained Labour Absortive Capacity in Southern
African Economies
- For
an Emancipatory Socio-Economics
- Inequality
and Poverty as the Condition of Labour
- International
Economic Policy
- Lessons
from Transition Economies: Strong Institutions are More
Important than the Speed of Reforms
- Notes
on Development Economics
- On
Rethinking Development Economics
- Opening
Space for Development
- Producing
a New Generation of Practising Development Economists
- Reclaiming
the Right to Development
- Reflections
on the Restoration of Development Economics
- Reviving
Development Economics: Eight Challenges and Dilemmas
- Some
Issues in Development Economics
- Some
Thoughts on the Agenda for Development Economics
- Some
Thoughts on the Implications of Increasing Returns for
Economic Development
- The
Developmental Agenda in the Age of Neoliberal
Globalization
- The
Need to Rethink Development Economics
- The
Neo-Liberal Doctrine and the African Crisis
- The
"Washington Consensus" and Development
Economics
-
Thoughts
and Proposals on Reviving Development Economics
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Towards
Developmental Democracy: A Note
-
Women,
Politics and a Development Economics Renaissance
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16.- International
Economic Relationships:
An overview of the current status of relationships
between the major trading blocks and their relations with Less Developed Countries.
Discuss some of the main areas of policy conflict that exist between the major trading
blocks the international economy, and estimate the chances of achieving concerted action
to solve these problems.
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- On Globalisation
- Notes on structural adjustment programmes
- Agenda 21 revisited (notes)
- 15 years of monetarism in Latin America: time
to scream
- Latin America: a failed industrial revolution
- Latin America: the making of a fractured society
- Latin America: a dependent mode of production
- The 'adjustment' of the world economy
- The transnational corporate system in the late 1990s
- A market-friendly strategy for development
- Notes on agribusiness in the 1990s
- Transnational corporations in developing countries
- Latin America: blockages to development
- Development Studies: Researching for the big bosses?
- Journal of World System Research
- International capital and intellectual
dishonesty
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17.- An
examination of the political and economic reasons for the collapse of central planning in
bureaucratic socialist societies ( especially Soviet Union ):
Concepts for review: Economic efficiency and social
efficiency as relative notions. Welfare and profits. Cold War. Bureaucratic socialism.
Perestroika. The social role of employment.
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1.- The end of the Chinese revolution (1978)
2.- Notes on class analysis in socialist China (1978)
3.- Class stratification in the Chinese countryside (1979)
4.- The Chinese attempt to build a socialist society (1997)
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18.- Appendix.- Notes on Balance of Payments:
Understanding the dynamics of balance of payments. The
political economy of balance of payments. The balance of payments and the concepts of
globalization, dependence, dominance and comparative advantage. Patterns of consumption
and aggregate demand.
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19.-
Making sense of development studies
The story of less developed societies after 1945 is the story of
geographical zones of economic and political influence where Africa
was a hunting ground for Western European capital, Latin America for
United States transnational capital, and East and South East Asia under
the "guidance" of Japanese corporate capital. All of it parallel to the
political aim of 'encircling' the two former 'evils': Soviet Union
and satellites, and People's Republic of China and North Viet Nam.
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- Sustainable
development in a globalized economy? The odds. 1999
- Sustainable
development in a globalized economy. 1997
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