ECON-3451 Development of Economic Thought

This course addresses vital micro- and macro-economic questions that concern us today and examines how economic thinking has evolved over time to answer them. Some of the questions we will look at are: How does an economist distinguish a man from a rat? Are our preferences fixed, or does exchange change our preferences? Under what conditions is paper money preferred to commodity money? Under what condition is public debt, the preferred form of public financing? Why do we observe differences in wage rates? Why is economics dismal? The course is topical, not chronological. Prerequisite: ECON 1311 and 1312