PHIL/POLI/ECON 384.001 – Gateway to Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

Instructor: Luc Bovens. This course meets MW 12:00 – 12:50 p.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction, with a remote synchronous (RS) recitation on Fridays.

This interdisciplinary course provides an overview of conceptual tools used to analyze issues at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE). We cover the following topics:

1. How do philosophers, economists, and political scientists approach their disciplines?

2. Major writings in the history of political philosophy: Locke, Hume, Smith, Marx, Mill, Rawls and Nozick with applications to minimum wage, taxation, automation, poverty and inequality, social mobility, and free speech.

3. Core ideas in public and social choice (with an application to gerrymandering) and game theory (with an application to collective action problems).

4. The virtues and limits of markets; market failures, with applications to climate change and health care.

5. Some simple data analysis exercises in Excel.

All seats reserved for declared PPE minors. To officially declare the PPE minor, please make an appointment with your academic advisor, or stop by drop in hours (more info here).

Have registration questions? Our PPE Administrators are here to help! Please email them at ppeprogram@unc.edu.