PHIL/PLCY 364.001 – Ethics and Economics

Instructor: Zev Berger. This course meets TR 2:00 – 3:15 p.m. in CW 105.

Jeff Bezos has a lot of wealth. You might think he has too much wealth, that there is no reason for one person to control all those resources. Or maybe you think he’s completely entitled to everything he has. He started a company which generates incredible amounts of value and has changed the landscape of the retail economy. His wealth is well earned. Or maybe you are caught somewhere in the middle; you think he is certainly entitled to a lot of what he has, but surely there is a more optimal distribution of those resources. This course will give you some tools for thinking through where you stand on this issue. You’ll need to know what wealth is, how wealth is created, how it’s valued. Then you’ll need to think about the various possibilities for the distribution of wealth and what some good ways are of spreading it around (hint: markets are very good at this). And before you come to a determination, you’ll probably want to consider costs and externalities of concentrating wealth, too. This course will offer a philosophical and economic treatment of the ethics of wealth.

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