Course Introduction

This class is a survey of basic economics and political economy. The focus on the class will be in presenting the "economic way of thinking" and applying that way of thinking to make sense of the world in which you live. We will be doing some black-board economics - formulas and graphs - but our primary objective would be to use what we learn from the black-board to interpret what we see "out of the window" in the stock-market in New York city, the policy process in Washington, DC, or global economic events in London, Paris and Hong Kong.

Our goal is that you will read the newspaper or watch TV differently than you did before you came into this class. If that happens, then the course will have been successful. This does not mean that you will see things "my way". That is actually the last thing we want. Instead, what we are after is that you learn to read, listen and watch critically and to apply the tools of economic reasoning in so doing.

Reading and Course Assignments

There are two required texts for the class - Paul Heyne, The Economic Way of Thinking, 9^th Edition (Prentice-Hall, 2000) and Mark Skousen, The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers (ME Sharpe, 2001). Heyne's book is the best selling one semester survey of economics. Skousen’s book is an entertaining guide through the debates that have shaped modern economics and the individuals who were the major players in those debates. Our lectures will fill out the course by providing information from how to read economic statistics to the development of basic economic models to the application of those models to understanding economic conditions and public policy. We will create a class email bulletin board for continued discussion of the reading material and course lectures. The TA for the class is Mr. Peter Leeson and his email is ptl@hotmail.com and he will set up alternative office hours to mine for you and also a “virtual” office hour for your convenience. Mr. Leeson’s meeting place will be right outside of 324 Enterprise Hall.

We have also required the workbooks that go to the video series Stossel in the Classroom. We will be watching five videos from John Stossel throughout the semester. Each of these videos was originally an ABC News Special program. Four of the videos have workbooks published for the purpose of economic education which you must purchase from the bookstore. We will assign projects from the workbooks and in the instance of the last video we will provide a set of essay questions for you to write.

In addition to keeping up with the assigned reading, doing the video assignments, and passing the exams, each student will be responsible for keeping an economic notebook. The Economics Notebook will consist of 10 economics articles you will clip out of newspapers or magazines during the semester and a 3 paragraph summary of each article chosen by yourself. The 3 paragraphs must address the following questions: (1) what is the basic thesis of the article?; (2) what economic concepts are employed in the article?; and (3) are you persuaded by the article, and if so, why, and if not, why not? Articles are to be selected only from the following (or others by instructor approval):

Paul Krugman, "The Dismal Science," column in Slate or his articles in the New York Times.

Stephen Landsburg, "Everyday Economics," column in Slate.

Gary Becker, Business Week column.

David Warsh, "Economic Principals," weekly column in the Boston Globe.

Virginia Postrel, “Economic Scene” column in the New York Times.

The Foundation for Economic Education – various articles in their monthly periodical Ideas on Liberty.

The Economist - "Economic Focus" weekly column.

Walter Williams - syndicated columnist, and Chair, Department of Economics, GMU.

The easiest way for you to do this assignment is to go to GMU Library and Use the Electronic DATABASES to do a search for each of the authors listed above and get a list of the articles they have written for newspapers and magazines over the past year and then look for articles that touch upon subjects which interest you.

Grading

Course grade will be determined on the basis of a mid-term and final, the five video assignments, and the notebook. Each exam will be worth 100 points each, each video assignment will be worth 20 points each (totaling 100 points), and the notebook will be worth 100 points. Thus, we will have a total of 400 points and a rough estimate would be that you will need to get 360 points or higher to get in the A range, 320 or higher for the B range, 280 or higher for the C range, 240 or higher for the D range, and below 240 for an F. Class attendance and participation both in class and in the electronic discussion can count toward your final grade, though it will not in itself lift your grade more than half a grade.

Course Schedule

DATE	TOPIC	READING
August 28	Course Introduction
August 30	Reading The Economic News
September 4	Basics of Economic Understanding	Heyne, Chapter 1. Skousen, Chapters 1-2.
September 6	GREED	Answer questions 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 in Video Study Guide.
September 11	Demand and Supply	Heyne, Chapter 2. Skousen, Chapters 7-8.
September 13	Demand and Supply	Heyne, Chapter 3.
September 18	Market Coordination	Heyne, Chapters 4-5.
September 20	Mutual Advantage and Social Cooperation	Heyne, Chapters 6-7. Skousen, Chapter 5.
September 25	Competition and Monopoly	Heyne, Chapters 8-10.
September 27	FREELOADERS	Answer questions 1, 4, 12, 22, and 27 in Video Study Guide.
October 2	Competition and Monopoly	Heyne, Chapters 8-10.
October 4	Government Policy and the Market Economy	Heyne, Chapters 13-14. Skousen, Chapters 2-3.
October 11	Government Policy and the Market Economy	Heyne, Chapters 13-14.
October 16	Profit and the Distribution of Income	Heyne, Chapters 11-12. Skousen, Chapters 4, 6, and 9.
October 18	Review
October 23	Mid-Term Exam
October 25	ARE WE SCARING OURSELVES TO DEATH?	Answer questions 2, 6, 11, 13, and 15 in Video Study Guide.
October 30	Measuring Economic Performance	Heyne, Chapter 15.
November 1	Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle	Heyne, Chapter 16. Skousen, Chapters 11-12.
November 6	Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle	Heyne, Chapters 17-18. Skousen, Chapters 13-15.
November 8	Boom, Bust and Politics	Heyne, Chapters 19-21.
November 13	Why are Some Countries Rich and Others Poor?	Heyne, Chapter 20. Skousen, Chapters 16-17.
November 15	IS AMERICA #1?	Answer questions 3 (p. 7), 1 (p. 13), 2 (p. 13), 4 (p. 13), and 5 (p. 17) in Video Study Guide.
November 27	Why are Some Countries Rich and Others Poor?	Heyne, Chapter 20.
November 29	The Political Economy of a Free and Prosperous Commonwealth	Heyne, Chapter 21-22.
December 4	SEX, DRUGS &CONSENTING ADULTS	Answer the questions from the hand-out.
December 6	Course Review for Exam ECONOMIC NOTEBOOKS DUE
December 18 7:30-10:15am	FINAL EXAM

Course Introduction

DATE

ECONOMIC NOTEBOOKS DUE