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

Instructor: Alex Campbell. This course meets MTWRF 1:15 – 2:45 p.m. in CW 213.

This interdisciplinary gateway course provides an introduction to the core topics that lie at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE). Some of the topics will be more theoretical while others will be more practical. Theoretical topics include: property; the division of labor; utilitarianism and consequentialism; theories of well-being; liberty, paternalism, and nudge; Marx on alienation, class, history, capitalism, socialism, and communism; market successes and market failures; the moral limits of markets; game theory; public choice theory; voting methods, paradoxes, and theorems (Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem, the Median Voter Theorem, and the Condorcet Jury Theorem); and distributive justice. Our practical topics include: automation and job loss; the drug war and the prohibition of drugs; poverty; the impact of private property in China; segregation; gerrymandering; racial inequality and prisons; healthcare and asymmetric information; and taxation. The aims of the course are to introduce you to some of the basics in PPE and to help equip you with the skills necessary to inform yourself about contemporary affairs through blogs and newspaper articles.

Recommended prerequisite: 1 ECON course.