PERSPECTVS ON ECONOMIC STUDIES

Prerequisites: ECON G6412, ECON G6411, ECON G6215, ECON G6211. Corequisites: ECON G6212, ECON G6216, ECON G6412. This course will critically examine mainstream approaches to economic theory and practice, particularly in the areas of macroeconomic stabilization policy, poverty reduction, economic development, environmental sustainability, and racial and gender inequality. Topics will vary from year to year, but may include responses to the credit crisis and Great Recession, global warming and international negotiations, globalization, the measurement of poverty and inequality, different approaches to poverty reduction, AIDS and malaria, mass imprisonment, childrens wellbeing, the IMF and the World Bank, intellectual property in an international context, racial disparities in life expectancy, public pension systems in developed countries, health care, and homelessness. The course will also examine biases in economic discourse, both among policy makers and scholars.