Economics 370, Seminar in Political Economy
Fall 2001
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Economic and political processes are intricately intertwined not
only for the obvious reasons that political institutions and actions
frame and constrain economic activity, while economic conditions influence
the sustainability of political institutions, but at a deeper level
because economic activity contains its own political logic, and vice
versa. This course begins with the premise that many economic interactions
are “political” in the sense that coalitions of participants, whose
interest may differ, can influence important economic, or market,
outcomes. In this regard, the course will explore tendencies toward
competition, cooperation, and conflict, and their relationship to
economic constraints imposed by the forces of supply and demand, as
they operate in various market and institutional arenas, such as labor
markets or the national economy. The course will examine relevant
theories of incomplete contracting under conditions of imperfect information
with some attention to game theory, and then apply these concepts
to contemporary problems concerning employment, economic growth, and
the distribution of income and wealth.
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