UMKC - DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Economics 506 M. Forstater
Fall 2009
Office Extension:
5862
Office: HAAG HALL 303/308
E-mail:
forstaterm@umkc.edu
Advanced History of Economic Thought
Course Objectives
This seminar uses issues raised in the
reading of four ‘classic’ primary texts: Adam Smith's
An Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776); David Ricardo’s
Of
the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1821); Karl Marx’s
Capital, Vol. 1 (1867); and John Maynard Keynes's
The General Theory
of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) as points of departure for the
examination of a series of topics in the history and development of
economics. These investigations will lead us to the study of a number of
other seminal articles and book excerpts. Topics include value and
distribution, competition, accumulation, technological change, unemployment,
effective demand, business cycles, money and credit, capital theory, and
more.
Course Requirements
Class attendance and involvement is
mandatory. Required readings are required reading (* means required).
There will be writing and problem solving exercises, a major research paper,
and class presentations. We will also utilize internet resources.
Reference Resources
Indispensable is The New Palgrave,
available in the library, and homepage.newschool.edu/het . Schumpeter’s
History of Economic Analysis, and texts by Heilbroner, Hunt, Rima, Roll,
Dobb, Roncaglia, also recommended. Routledge’s Encyclopedia of Political
Economy is also good, as is the Elgar Companion series.
History of Political Economy is the major journal in the field, and
should be consulted on any topic. Other journals include Journal of the
History of Economic Thought, History of Economic Ideas, and the
European Journal of the History of Economic Thought.
You must purchase or otherwise obtain:
1)
The Essential Adam Smith
(EAS in outline; edited by
Heilbroner), ISBN: 9780393955309
2)
David Ricardo’s
Principles
(the Prometheus Great Minds edition is the
cheap one, but it doesn’t include Sraffa’s introduction!) ISBN:
9780865979659
3)
Karl Marx’s
Capital
(Penguin Classics) ISBN:
9780140445688
4)
J.M. Keynes's
General Theory
(Harcourt Brace) ISBN: 9780156347112
5)
J.S. Mill’s Principles of
Political Economy (Prometheus) ISBN: 9781591021513
6)
Articles are on reserve or
distributed in class.
Course Outline and Reading List
I. Institutional
framework of the ‘society of perfect liberty’
*Adam Smith, The
History of Astronomy
*Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments
(EAS, pp. 57-147)
*R. Heilbroner, The Socialization of the
Individual in Adam Smith, History of Political Economy, Vol. 14, No.
3, 1982.
Forstater, Mathew (2008)
"Moral Sentiments" in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences: Ed.
William A. Darity Jr. Vol 5. 2nd. Ed.
Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA
A. L. Macfie, The Individual in Society,
1967.
M. Forstater, "Adam Smith" in
Little Book Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
II. The division of
labor, growth and dynamics
*Smith, Wealth of Nations (EAS, pp.
150-230, 302-307)
*Heilbroner, The Paradox of Progress,
Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1973.
*Adolph Lowe,
The Classical Theory of
Economic Growth, Social Research, 1954.
Adolph Lowe,
Adam Smith's Theory of
Equilibrium Growth, in Skinner and Wilson (eds.): Essays on Adam Smith,
Oxford, 1976
III. Endogenous
growth, technological change and path dependence
*Allyn Young, Increasing Returns and
Economic Progress, Economic Journal, 1928.
*W. Brian Arthur, Positive Feedbacks in the
Economy, Scientific American, 1990.
W. Brian Arthur, Increasing Returns and the
New World of Business, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1996.
Paul David, Clio and the Economics of
Qwerty, AER, May, 1985.
Paul Romer, The Origins of Endogenous
Growth, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1994.
VI. Laws of returns
*Piero Sraffa, On the Relations Between
Cost and Quantity Produced,
*Piero Sraffa, Laws of Returns under
Competitive Conditions, Economic Journal,1926.
J. Clifton, "Competition and the Evolution
of the Capitalist Mode of Production", Cambridge Journal of Economics,
1977.
Forstater, Mathew (2008)
"Returns"
in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences: Ed. William A. Darity Jr.
Vol 7. 2nd. Ed.
M. Forstater, "Piero Sraffa" in
Little Book Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA
V. Classical
competition and natural values
*Wealth of Nations (EAS, pp.
175-227)
Maurice Dobb, Theories of Value and
Distribution Since Adam Smith, Ch. 2.
Ronald Meek, Studies in the Labour
Theory of Value, ch. 2, pt. 3, 4.
John Eatwell, Natural and Normal Conditions
and Competition (New Palgrave)
VI. David Ricardo's
theory of value and distribution
*Ricardo, Principles, chs. I, II,
IV, V, VI, XXX.
*Piero Sraffa, Introduction to
Principles (Sraffa edition)
Meek, Studies, ch. 3.
Dobb, ch. 3.
Krishna Bharadwaj, Sraffa’s Ricardo, and On
a Controversy over Ricardo's Theory of Distribution, in Themes in Value
and Distribution, 1989.
M. Forstater, "David Ricardo"
in Little Book Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
VII. Ricardo on
machinery
*Ricardo, ch. XX, XXXI
*Hans Neisser, ‘Permanent’ Technological
Unemployment, AER, 1942.
*Harald Hagemann, Technological
Unemployment", in P. Arestis and M. Marshall, eds., The Political Economy
of Full Employment, 1995.
VIII. The Ricardo-Malthus
debates
*Ricardo's "Notes on Malthus's
Principles", ch. VII
Eric Roll, pp. 173-98; 201-11.
P. Kenway, Marx, Keynes, and the
Possibility of Crisis Keynes, Thomas Robert Malthus
IX. Marx’s value
theory
*Marx, Capital, vol. I
*Paul Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist
Development, pp. 11-71
Anwar Shaikh, Marx’s Theory of Value and
the Transformation Problem
Meek, Studies, ch. 4, 5.
M. Forstater,
"Karl Marx" in
Little
Book Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
Dobb, Ch. 6.
X. The 'laws of
motion' of capitalism,
accumulation and crisis
*Marx, Capital, vol. I
*Marx, Crisis
Theory
*
Anwar Shaikh, An Introduction to the History
of Crisis Theories, U.S .Capitalism in Crisis, U.R.P.E. New York,
1978
P. Kenway, Marx, Keynes, and the
Possibility of Crisis
Roger Alcaly, "An Introduction to Marxian
Crisis Theory"
XI. The principle
of effective demand
*J.M. Keynes, The General Theory,
Preface, ch. 1, 3, 7, 23
*L.Pasinetti, The Economics of Effective
Demand, in Growth and Income Distribution, Cambridge, 1974.
*Piero Garegnani, Notes on
Consumption, Investment, and Effective Demand, Cambridge Journal
of Economics, 1978-79.
M. Forstater, "John Maynard Keynes" in
Little Book Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
XII. Real wages,
money wages and employment
*J. M. Keynes, General Theory, chs.
2, 18, 19, 21
*Edward J. Nell, The Simple Theory of
Effective Demand, 1978.
XIII. Investment I:
uncertainty and historical time
*Keynes, General Theory, chs. 5, 6
(pp. 63ff), 7 (pp. 83ff), 11, 12.
*J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of
Employment, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1937.
*Joan Robinson, Time in Economic Theory,
Kyklos, 1980.
Forstater, Mathew (2008)
"Beauty Contest Metaphor" in International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences: Ed. William A. Darity Jr.
Vol 1. 2nd. Ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference
USA
XIV. Investment II:
money, credit, and finance
*Keynes, General Theory, chs. 13-17
*L. R. Wray, Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies, Edward Elgar,
1990. Ch. 1 and
Ch. 7
*Hyman P. Minsky, The Financial Instability Hypothesis: A Restatement,
in Arestis and Skouras (eds.): Post-Keynesian Economic Theory, M. E.
Sharpe, 1985[1978].
XV. Cumulative
causation & transformational growth
*Nicholas Kaldor, The Irrelevance of
Equilibrium Economics, in Further Essays on Economic Theory, Holmes &
Meier, 1972.
*Nicholas Kaldor, Causes of the Slow Rate of
Economic Growth of the United Kingdom, in Further Essays on Economic Theory,
Holmes & Meier, 1966.
*Nicholas Kaldor, Economic without Equilibrium, M. E. Sharpe, 1985.
E. J. Nell, Transformational Growth and Effective Demand, Macmillan,
1992.
E. J. Nell, The General Theory of Transformational Growth, Cambridge,
1998.
Alfred. Chandler, Scale and Scope, Belknap, 1988.
XVI. Structural change
and economic dynamics
*L. Pasinetti, Structural Change and Economic Growth, 1981.
*L. Pasinetti, Structural Economic Dynamics, 1993.
XVII. Problems, policies,
prospects
*Keynes, General Theory, ch. 24.
*Adolph Lowe, Has Freedom a Future?, Praeger, 1988.
*Edward J.. Nell, Prosperity and Public Spending, Unwin Hyman, 1988.
*Robert Heilbroner, 21st Century Capitalism, Norton, 1993.
M. Forstater, "J.S. Mill" in Little Book
Of Big Ideas: Economics, Chicago Review Press, 2007
Reading list subject to
minor revision
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