Capitalism in Crisis

Economics 3015                                                                   Spring 2008                                                   TF 11:00 (Dun 112)

Paul Hancock Email: hancockp@greenmtn.edu

Office: Moses 155

Phone: 8324

 Course Description:

Capitalism in Crisis is a special topics course which will examine the origins and character of the tendency towards crisis in capitalist market systems with emphasis on the contemporary American economy.  At the core of our study will be the effort to understand how the forces in a market society affect community, family and the general world order.  In particular we will study income and wealth inequality across generations, the role that disasters have played in providing opportunity for profit and the economic doctrines that have supported and explained these market processes and outcomes. The course won’t focus just on economic causality but instead will take a broader approach that encompasses social causality and the creation of history.  We’re asking the question “how does the world work?” The readings openly challenge the contemporary American political, economic and social order and the dominant views that support it. We will also have an opportunity to hear and read alternative views. Three speakers will join us at points (yet to be determined) during the semester: Alfred Watkins, Science and Technology Program Coordinator of the World Bank; Jane D’Arista, Program Coordinator of the Financial Markets Center; and Paul Millman, CEO of Chroma Technology in Vermont.  The first two guest speakers will give us insight into how international trade and finance are managed by global financial institutions located in Washington D.C. Paul Millman will provide a firm-level perspective of an alternative to the standard top-down capitalist firm. Chroma Technology is a professional worker cooperative, i.e., an employee-owned firm.

Primary Course Objective: 

By the end of the semester students should have a working knowledge of the causes of economic crises, an understanding of competing economic and social analyses (classical, neo-classical and heterodox), a basis for making an evaluation of the fairness of market outcomes and a grasp of the foundations in knowledge-making (ways of knowing) that have contributed to the individualistic character of market societies. Additionally, students should develop an understanding of the roles of international financial institutions and the organizational structure of businesses that dominate market economies. Lastly, the student should understand how the topics discussed relate to his or her life. As we shift back and forth between understanding the world from a perspective of powerful decision-makers controlling the outcome of socio-economic processes to one in which individuals and families seemingly determine their own fates to a perspective that seems to place ideas at the forefront of the historical narrative, we will have a chance to make up our own minds.

Required Texts:

The Shock Doctrone: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Naomi Klein

The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community. Stephen A. Marglin

Unequal Chances: Family Background and Economic Success. Samuel Bowles et al.

Please check the online syllabus at the end of every week for additional readings as the course proceeds.

Grading: Final grades will be based on two midterms and a final exam. The first midterm contributes 25% to the semester grade, the second contributes 35%, and the final examination is worth 40%. Attendance and classroom contribution will be taken into account when considering performances that fall between two letter grades.

Calendar:

^{January 22nd: Introductory Lecture}

^{January 25-February 1:  Marglin, pps. ix-35; Klein, pps. 3-48}

January 31: Focus The Nation ~ “Shock and Awe: How Ecological Disaster is Profitable”   Hancock: Dickgeisser,    

                                                             10:00 a.m.                                                            

^{February 4-8: Klein, pps. 49-115}

^{February 11-15: Klein, pps. 116-168} 

^{February 18-22: Bowles, pps. 1-71}

^{February 25: Summary and Review for First Midterm}

February 29 First Midterm

^{March 1-9:  Spring Break}

^{March 10- 14: Klein, pps. 171-193; Marglin, pps. 36-57; Bowles; pps. 145-164}

^{March 17-21; Marglin, pps. 58-95; Bowles, pps. 80-96;  D’Arista “Replacing the Failed Washington Consensus” (handout)}

^{March 22-25 Easter Break}

^{March 26-29: Klein, pps. 194-262; Watkins and Verma, eds. Building Science, Technology, and Innovation Capacity in Rwanda: Developing} 

                                                                                               ^{Practical Solutions to Practical Problems. The World Bank. 2008}

^{April 1: Marglin, pps 96-115}

^{April 4: Summary and Review for Second Midterm}

April 8:  Second Midterm

April 10-15: Bowles, pps. 165-189; Marglin, pps. 173-198; Klein, pps. 308-322 

April 17: Klein, pps. 325-382  

April 21-25: Bowles, pps. 100-140; Marglin, pps. 223-244 

April 28-May 1: Klein, pps. 406-422, 443-466; Marglin, pps. 245-263; Bowles, pps. 256-276

May 6: Summary and Review for Final Exam

^{May 10, 10:30 a.m.: Final Exam}