Political Economy Courses
GLOBAL 45 Survey of World History
Prof. Emily R Gottreich
Tu, Th 3:30 pm – 4:59 pm
Class #: 23709
4 units
This course focuses on the history of global interaction, with a particular emphasis on the relationships between states and societies. Though it begins with a brief exploration of antiquity, it emphasizes world developments since the 15th century. The purpose of the course is to gain a better understanding of the rise and decline of states, empires, and international trading systems. Taking a panoramic view of the last 500 years, it explores the ways in which disparate places came closer together, even while it seeks to explain how those places maintained their own trajectories in the face of outside intervention.
POLECON 85 What is Political Economy and How Should We Do It?
Prof. Richard T. Ashcroft
Mo, We, Fr 4:00 pm – 4:59 pm
Class #: 27946
3 units
This course is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on history, philosophy and the social sciences to answer the question “What is political economy and how should we do it?” We will examine the relationships between political economy, liberal democracy, the nation-state and empire, explore the influence of institutions, ideas and identities on political economy, and analyze different topics, methodologies and mediums of communication. In doing so we will ask whether political economy is an empirical subject that seeks to describe the world, a normative endeavor that seeks to change it for the better, or something else entirely.
POLECON 100 Classical Theories of Political Economy
Prof. Clare Talwalker
Tu, Th 2:00 pm – 3:29 pm
Class #: 22619
4 units
One-semester lecture course offered each semester. In-depth analysis of the classical political economy literature, including such authors as Locke, Smith, Marx, Mills, and Weber to Veblen and Polanyi. Strong emphasis is placed on providing appropriate background for understanding the evolution of the literature that has emanated from the various social science disciplines which forms the basis of modern political economy.
POLECON 107 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
Prof. Mario B Muzzi
Tu, Th 8:00 am – 9:29 am
Class #: 23734
4 units
This course is designed as a comprehensive overview of intermediate macroeconomic theory focusing on economic growth and international economics. It covers a number of topics including history of economic growth, industrial revolution, post-industrial revolution divergence, flexible-price and sticky-price macroeconomics, and macroeconomic policy. Course is structured for majors in Political Economy and other non-economic social science majors.
POLECON 156 Silicon Valley and the Global Economy
Prof. Crystal Chang
Tu, Th 9:30 am – 10:59 am
Class #: 24250
4 units
This course investigates the historical origins and institutional ecosystem of Silicon Valley by identifying key factors in the development of Silicon Valley, as well as political circumstances and cultural conditions that have sustained its important role in the global economy. Questions like these will be addressed: Will Silicon Valley and artificial intelligence render workers irrelevant? Have the region’s tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook become the monopolists of the new Gilded Age, and should they be broken up? Has Silicon Valley peaked? Is the “Silicon Valley model” unique or can it be replicated elsewhere? Lectures are discussion-driven, interactive, and will be complemented by films, debate, and group work.
POLECON 159 Digital Technology, Political Economy, and Justice
Prof. Khalid Kadir
Tu 3:00 pm – 5:59 pm
Class #: 31584
4 units
How can we understand the role of digital technology in our lives and in society today? In this course we will investigate the political economy of digital technologies. In doing so, we will consider how the rapid rise of digital technologies is simultaneously reinforcing past structures of power while also forging new terrains of contestation. Throughout this process, we will consider how injustice is exacerbated or justice is achieved through the proliferation of these new technologies. Finally, we will examine the creative forms of resistance that have emerged alongside these technologies.
POLECON C160 Origins of Capitalism
Prof. Trevor W Jackson
Tu, Th 11:00 am – 12:29 pm
Class #: 32827
4 units
This is a survey of the economic and social origins and development of the modern economy, beginning in early modern Europe and extending until the construction of the global capitalist system in the late nineteenth century. It attends to scholarly disputes over the origins of the distinctive economic features of capitalism: private property, the international monetary system, free wage labor and slavery, commodification and cultures of consumption, credit and banking, crises and inequality, as well as industrialization and economic growth. This course is a companion to the ideas studied in History 159B and is intended to lead in to the material covered in History 160. No prior quantitative methods training is required, or assumed.
IAS C176 Climate Change Economics
Prof. David Anthoff
Mo, We, Fr
9:00 am – 9:59 am
Class #: 23005
4 units
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities, and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades, and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens.
IAS C118 Introductory Applied Econometrics
Instructor TBA
Mo, We, Fr
2:00 pm – 2:59 pm
Class #: 23005
4 units
This course is a self-contained introduction to the economics of climate change. Climate change is caused by a large variety of economic activities, and many of its impacts will have economic consequences. Economists have studied climate change for more than two decades, and economic arguments are often powerful in policy decisions. The course will familiarize students with these arguments and equip them with the tools to participate in discussions of climate change policy through an economic lens.