Economic Presentation and Debate
● Prepare a 20-minute in-class presentation on an assigned economic issue, comparing perspectives from different schools of thought, providing critical analysis and policy recommendations, defending the view as an expert, and submitting presentation slides that will be assessed on content, visual appeal, and presentation skills.
Suggested Structure:
An 18th-19th century school founded by Adam Smith focused on how markets and capitalism operate through concepts like the invisible hand, emphasizing free markets and minimal government intervention.
Key concept - Invisible hand
The invisible hand refers to the automated nature of markets, where the decisions of self-interested individuals inadvertently promote the social good. Markets maximize efficiency when left alone.
A 19th-20th century school based on marginal utility theory, rational choice theory and equilibrium analysis which formalized economics as a deductive mathematical science grounded in optimization.
Key concept - Rational choice theory
Assumes individuals act rationally to maximize utility/profits. People weigh costs and benefits rationally when making economic decisions. Provides a foundation for modeling behavior.
A radical critique of capitalism pioneered by Karl Marx, analyzing class conflict, labor exploitation, historical materialism, crisis tendencies in capitalism, and advocating revolutionary socialism.
Key concept - Class conflict
Marx saw economic history as driven by conflict between social classes. He critiqued capitalism concentrating power and wealth, exploiting workers. Class dynamics shape society.
The estimated parameter values from a regression model quantify the effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable.
Key concept - Opportunity cost
Every decision has an opportunity cost - the value of the next best-foregone alternative. Opportunity cost theory studies decision-making and advocates people thinking at the margin.
A school opposed to neoclassical economics that builds on Keynes' theories, incorporating ideas like fundamental uncertainty, endogenous money, and analyzing capitalism's instabilities.
Key concept - Fundamental uncertainty
Challenges rational expectations and focuses on true uncertainty in the economy, especially in investment and financial markets, that cannot be modeled probabilistically.
A school focused on studying how socio economic institutions like laws, culture, and social conventions shape economic behavior and outcomes. Pioneered by Thorstein Veblen.
Key concept - Socio Economic institutions
Analyzes how social, legal, political and cultural institutions shape economic behavior and outcomes. Calls for designing effective institutions.
An influential free-market school associated with the University of Chicago that advocates laissez-faire policies, deregulation, privatization, and rejects Keynesianism based on efficient markets and rational expectations.
Key concept - Efficient markets
Arguments securities and commodity prices fully reflect all available information and are efficient. Provides intellectual basis for deregulation and free market policies.
A school integrating psychology that studies systematic cognitive biases and limitations of rationality that impact economic decision-making and frequently lead to suboptimal outcomes.
Key concept - Heuristics and biases
Documents systematic biases and mental shortcuts that lead to deviations from perfect rationality assumed in neoclassical economics.
A school highlighting gender biases in economics, analyzing the unpaid "reproduction economy", incorporating values into analysis, and advocating for egalitarian outcomes.
Key concept - Reproduction economy
Highlights the unpaid domestic and care work, predominantly done by women, that reproduces the labor force. Seeks to properly value this unpaid work.
A school guided by Buddhist principles criticizing materialism and consumerism, while advocating ethical business practices aimed at improving well-being rather than profit maximization.
Key concept - Mindful consumption
Critiques consumerism and calls for mindful, ethical consumption and business practices that reject profit maximization in favor of social well-being.
- Provide a brief introduction to the economic issue under analysis
- Highlight the significance of the issue in the current context
Examples:
Minimum wage policies are at the heart of our analysis. They represent a government intervention in labor markets, designed to set a wage floor for low-income workers. In this assignment, we will explore the economic implications of minimum wage policies and consider the perspectives of two key economic schools of thought: neoclassical economics and Keynesian economics.
- You should follow the following structure for both perspectives.
+ Identify perspective and key associated school of thought
+ Explain core ideas/concepts related to the issue
+ Discuss analysis and proposed solutions
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