Announcements
Please view this article in Salon.com's How the World Works by Andrew Leonard, "Malthus is in the air."
Class Information
Class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. in 101 Barker Hall.
Why are some societies rich and others poor, and why has the division of societies between these groups changed so dramatically over time? These are among the most fundamental questions of economics and economic history. We will study how economists and economic historians attempt to answer them in this Discovery Course.
The "text" for this course is Gregory Clark's A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton University Press, 2007). We will read a portion of Clark's book every week in order to understand how economic historians think about the big issues of growth, stagnation, development and underdevelopment in the very long run. This book will be supplemented by other readings. Students will be aware that there are two kinds of textbooks. First, those in which the author purportedly suppresses his personal opinions and provides a digest of "the facts" as they are understood by scholars. Second, those in which an opinionated author alerts his readers to unsettled controversies and prompts further reflection. Clark's book is the second sort. Students should not expect to find conventional wisdom and easy answers. But those who bear with it will be stimulated to think further. Readings not available online are on reserve at Moffitt Library.
Syllabus and Reading List
Course Readings
Clive Crook (2007), "Let the Rich Go Forth and Multiply," Financial Times (8 August), p. 13.
Samuel Bowles (2007), "Genetically Capitalist?" Science (19 October), pp. 394-95.
Lecture Presentations
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