UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS 506
Instructor: John F. Henry
Office: Mannheim 203D
Phone: 235-1309
Email: henryjf@umkc.edu
Office Hours: MW 12:30-1:30; 4:30-5:00
and by appointment
Required Texts:
Adam Smith, The Essential Adam Smith (Heilbroner and Malone, eds.)
David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, (Vol. 1, Works and Correspondence, Pierro Sraffa, ed.)
John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy and Chapters on Socialism
Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1
Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics
John Maynard Keynes, Essays in Persuasion
David McNally, Against the Market
In addition to the above and the required (and supplementary) readings as specified in the class outline below, I shall distribute an extensive reading list via email from which you may draw. Listed there are not only specific sources by category, but also information as to journals, general guides, etc.
As well, the journals History of Political Economy , Journal of the History of Economic Thought, and The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought are given over to specialized writings in the area of economic thought. Some of these are useful. The most useful Web sites that I’m aware of in this area are:
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html
This provides a hypertext of authors’ works that can be downloaded.
And, the New School University’s history of economic thought website is very useful for general information:
http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/
Course Requirements:
Each student will be responsible for:
1) Reading the assigned material. This is important as lectures and class discussion require familiarity with the arguments put forward by the various authorities.
2) One 15-minute presentation based on an assigned article or section of a book. The student is expected to summarize the main point(s) of the assigned work, show its relevance to the general discussion at hand, provide an evaluation of the author’s analysis.
3) A 3,000 word paper on a topic of the student’s choice. Topics, a brief outline of the proposed paper, and a provisional list of readings must be presented to me by September 11. Papers are due November 13. There are no exceptions to these dates. More information on the paper will be provided in class.
4) A final examination of a take-home nature. Questions will be distributed November 13 and examinations will be turned in by December 11. There are no exceptions to this date.
Course Outline and Readings: (* denotes required; ** indicates student presentation)
(Some readings are subject to change)
*Robert Briffault, “Reasons for Anger;” “Stupidity”
*Benjamin Farrington, Science and Politics in the Ancient World, chs.1-3, 8
*Maurice Dobb, “The Requirements of a Theory of Value”
*C.B. Macpherson, “The Rise and Fall of Economic Justice”
*John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ch. 5
*S. Bell, J. Henry, L. Wray, “A Chartalist Critique of John Locke’s Theory of Property, Accumulation, and Money.” Review of Social Economy, March 2004
J. Henry, “John Locke, Property Rights, and Economic Theory", Journal of Economic Issues, 3, September 1999.
(The bibliography here contains references to the main authorities representing different positions on Locke’s general theory.)
D. McNally, Political Economy and the Rise of Capitalism
M. Perelman, The Invention of Capitalism
*Smith, The Essential Adam Smith, pages 57-147, 159-257.
*J. Evensky, “Adam Smith on the Human Foundation of a Successful Liberal Society.” History of Political Economy, 25, 1993
*R. Meek, “Smith and Marx.” In Smith, Marx, and After.
*R. Coase, “Adam Smith’s View of Man.” The Journal of Law and Economics, 19, 1976. (Avaliable through JSTOR)
*J. Henry, “Adam Smith and the Theory of Value: Chapter Six Considered.” History of Economics Review, 31, 2000.
**S. Pack, “Theological (and Hence Economic) Implications of Adam Smith’s ‘Principles which Lead and Direct
Philosophical Enquiries.” HOPE, 27, 1995
**R. Prasch, “The Ethics of Growth in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.” HOPE, 23, 1991
**S. Fleischacker, On Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’, chapter 5 (self-interest)
**______, chapter 9 (property rights)
**______, chapter 10 (distributive justice)
Of the enormous secondary literature on Smith (see the big reading list for a sampling), the following recent works are of great interest.
S. Fleischacker, On Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’
J. Evensky, Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy
J. Alvey, Adam Smith: Optimist or Pessimist?
R. O’Donnell, Adam Smith’s Theory of Value and Distribution
*R. Malthus, An Essay of the Principle of Population, extracts
L. Rogin, The Meaning and Validity of Economic Theory, chs. 5, 6
*Ricardo, Principles, Introduction, chs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 20, 30, 31 (available at www.econlib.org)
*R. Meek, Studies in the Labour Theory of Value, ch. 3
*A. Cottrell, “Keynes, Ricardo, Malthus and Say’s Law"
**M. Berg, The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy, 1815-1848, chs. 3, 4
**M. Bleaney, Underconsumption Theories, pp. 42-56
Ricardo, Notes on Malthus’s Principles (Collected Works, Vol. 2)
*D. McNally, Against the Market
*J. S. Mill, Chapters on Socialism
**R. Meek, “The Decline of Ricardian Economics in England”
**S. Hollander, “The Post-Ricardian Dissension: A Case-Study in Economics and Ideology”
M. Berg, The Machinery Question…., chs. 5-14
G. Claeys, Machinery, Money and the Millennium
L. Rogin, Meaning and Validity…., chs. 7, 8
Thompson, N., The People’s Science: Popular Political Economy of Exploitation and Crisis
_____. The Market and Its Critics
*Marx, Capital, Vol. 1 (except for Part I, chapter 3 – on money)
*A. Shaikh, Marx’s Theory of Value and the ‘Transformation Problem'
Marx and Engels, Collected Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
(Contains all their major works including Capital (3 vols), Grundrisse, Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Theories of Surplus Value (3 vols), Wage-Labour and Capital, Correspondence, etc.
R. Meek, Studies in the Labour Theory of Value, chs. 4, 6
M. Dobb, Political Economy and Capitalism, ch. 3
P. Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist Development
M. Howard and J. King, A History of Marxian Economics (2 vols)
T. Bottomore, ed., Dictionary of Marxist Thought
J. Eatwell, et al., The New Palgrave: Marxian Economics
A. Oakley, The Making of Marx’s Critical Theory
_____, Marx’s Critique of Political Economy
D. Foley, Understanding Capital
I. Rubin, Essays in the Labor Theory of Value
F. Moseley, Marx’s Theory of Money: Modern Appraisals
* G. Moore, “John Neville Keynes’s Solution to the English Methodenstreit”
*P. Groenewegen, “Alfred Marshall and the Establishment of the Cambridge Economic Tripos”
*D. Ross, “Socialism and American Liberalism: Academic Social Thought in the 1880’s”
J. Maloney, The Professionalization of Economics: Alfred Marshall and the Dominance of Orthodoxy
C. Barrow, Universities and the Capitalist State
D. Ross, The Origins of American Social Science
T. Haskell, The Emergence of Professional Social Science
M. Furner, Advocacy and Objectivity: A Crisis in the Professionalization of American Social Science
M. Morgan and M. Rutherford, eds., From Interwar Pluralism to Postwar Neoclassicism
A.W. Coats, “The American Economic Association and the Economics Profession.” JEL, 23, Dec. 1985
R. Van Horn and P. Mirowski, “The Road to a World Made Safe for Corporations: The Rise of the Chicago School of Economics” (Xerox)
*W. S. Jevons, “Preface” to The Theory of Political Economy
*A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, Book 1, All; Book 3, chs.3, 6; Book 4,
chs. 1,3,7,8,13; Book 5, chs. 1-5
* J.B. Clark, “Distribution as Determined by a Law of Rent.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 5.3, 1891 (JSTOR)
** J. Henry, “God and the Marginal Product….”
**T. Veblen, “Professor Clark’s Economics.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 22.2, 1908 (JSTOR)
**Veblen, “Fisher’s Capital and Income.” Political Science Quarterly. 23.1, 1908 (JSTOR)
**Veblen, “Fisher’s Rate of Interest.” Political Science Quarterly. 24.2 1909 (JSTOR)
*J.H. Clapham, “Of Empty Economic Boxes”
*A.C. Pigou, “Empty Economic Boxes: A Reply”
*J.H. Clapham, “The Economic Boxes” (“)
*A.C. Pigou, D.H. Robertson, “Those Empty Boxes” (“)
*P. Sraffa, “The Laws of Returns Under Competitive Conditions” (“)
*Keynes, Essays in Persuasion
Social Consequences of Changes in the Value of Money
A Programme of Expansion
The Great Slump of 1930
Economy
Alternative Aims in Monetary Policy
Positive Suggestions for the Future Regulation of Money
The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill
The End of the God Standard
Politics – all four essays
The Future –both essays
*M. Marcuzzo, “Keynes and Cambridge”
*J. Robinson, “History Versus Equilibrium”
*R. O’Donnell, “Social Justice in Keynes’s Economic and Political Writings”
**H. Jensen, “Keynes as a Marshallian”
**C. Sardoni, “Keynes and Marx”
**J. Crotty, “Was Keynes a Corporatist”
Keynes’s works, correspondence, etc. are collected in The Collected Works of John Maynard Keynes, D. Moggridge, ed. (29 vols)
Following are some general works that shed light on the development of Keynes’s ideas.
R. Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman
(a one volume condensation of his three volume biography)
R. Harrod, Life of John Maynard Keynes
D. Moggridge, Maynard Keynes: An Economist’s Biography
H. Minsky, John Maynard Keynes
D. Colander and H. Landreth, The Coming of Keynesianism to America
G. Shackle, Years of High Theory
R. Kahn, The Making of Keynes’ General Theory
P. Clarke, The Keynesian Revolution in the Making
A. Fitzgibbons, Keynes’s Vision
*J. Robinson, “What Has Become of the Keynesian Revolution”
*J. Steindl, “J. M. Keynes: Society and the Economist”
*A. Cohen and G.C. Harcourt, “Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies”
S. Amadae, Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy (origin of rational choice theory)
K. Hoover, Economics and Ideology (on Keynes and Hayek – also Laski)
R. Cockett, Thinking the Unthinkable (on Hayek, et al. and post-war developments)
Grade Evaluation:
Paper: 40%
In-class Presentation: 20%
Final Examination: 40%
Addendum:
As requested (or demanded—I’m not certain which term best applies) by the Dean, the following latter is attached for your information.
Statement on Sexual Harassment
Recently there has been considerable media coverage of an alleged case of sexual harassment of a graduate student and an Associate Professor in the College. That case is under active investigation and no findings of fact have yet been made. It is important that we do not jump to conclusions of guilt in cases such as this; nor should we prematurely assume that the allegations are false. The presumption of innocence until proven otherwise is a cornerstone of the American justice system.
Please be assured, though, that the College and the University of Missouri-Kansas City have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment, intimidation, or discrimination of any kind. The faculty and the administration are committed to creating and maintaining an environment on campus that is free of all forms of harassment, intimidation, and discrimination.
Should you or a friend ever experience any action or speech that feels coercive or discriminatory, you should report this immediately to the department chair, the office of the Dean, and/or the Affirmative Action Office. The Affirmative Action Office will be responsible for investigating any complaint of discrimination or sexual harassment.
We are a community of learners dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisitions of skills that will enable us to lead rich and full lives. We can pursue these ends only in a culture of mutual respect and civility. It is incumbent upon all of us to create a culture of respect everywhere on campus and at all times through our actions and speech. On behalf of the faculty of UMKC, I pledge to you that we will maintain a safe environment on campus that fosters respect for everyone.
Dr. Gary L. Ebersole
Professor of History and Religious Studies
Chair, UMKC Faculty Senate