Friday 16 September 2011

Course: History of Economic Thought


Everyone seems to be talking about the economy these days. But do they always make sense? Politicians, pundits, and business leaders, sound like they have lost the map. In a new course I will be teaching at the Mary Ward Centre this term  we will question the great thinkers of the past, from Aristotle to the Enlightenment, from the Bible and Islam to the modern economic theories of Liberalism, Socialism, and Keynesianism, and we will try to shed some light on perennial problems: What is money? Is charging interest moral? When is a price fair, and are price controls always detrimental? How much social inequality is tolerable? On these and other burning questions let’s find out what philosophers have to teach us. After all, it concerns us all, as workers, consumers, savers and citizens.

Christian