36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Why Think about Capitalism?
You consider how capitalism works, its political prerequisites, and its political, moral, and cultural ramifications through key elements of capitalism and its origins.
1.
Why Think about Capitalism?
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19.
Individual and Community—Tönnies vs. Simmel
In the last third of the 19th century, a newly unified Germany went through a process of capitalist transformation, leading to debate about capitalism's social, cultural, and political ramifications.
19.
Individual and Community—Tönnies vs. Simmel
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2.
The Greek and Christian Traditions
You learn how modern Western intellectuals have evaluated capitalism by starting with the two great premodern traditions: the civic republican tradition and the Christian tradition.
2.
The Greek and Christian Traditions
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20.
The German Debate over Rationalization
Georg Simmel, Max Weber, and Werner Sombart offered three different perspectives on the cultural and spiritual effects of the spread of capitalism and its ideas of rationality and calculation.
20.
The German Debate over Rationalization
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3.
Hobbes's Challenge to the Traditions
Hobbes criticized these traditions, emphasizing happiness in this world as the goal of government and refuting the notion that government exists to guide us to some shared purpose or highest ideal.
3.
Hobbes's Challenge to the Traditions
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21.
Cultural Sources of Capitalism—Max Weber
You examine the cultural sources of disparate group success under capitalism, with special focus on Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) and Sombart's The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911).
21.
Cultural Sources of Capitalism—Max Weber
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4.
Dutch Commerce and National Power
In the 17th century, the Dutch Republic provided an example of a highly commercial society of increasing power, leading European thinkers to reformulate civic republicanism in a more commercial direction.
4.
Dutch Commerce and National Power
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22.
Schumpeter on Innovation and Resentment
Joseph Schumpeter was among the most wide-ranging analysts of capitalism. But unlike most mainstream economists of his day, Schumpeter focused on the role of entrepreneurs, whose dynamism, he believed, caused resentment of capitalism.
22.
Schumpeter on Innovation and Resentment
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5.
Capitalism and Toleration—Voltaire
In his Letters on England (1734), Voltaire argued that commerce provides a means for people of different orientations to cooperate.
5.
Capitalism and Toleration—Voltaire
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23.
Lenin's Critique—Imperialism and War
You examine Vladimir Lenin's idea that capitalism fosters imperialism and related arguments by the British liberal John Hobson and Marxists Rudolf Hilferding and Rosa Luxembourg, before taking up a refutation offered by Schumpeter.
23.
Lenin's Critique—Imperialism and War
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6.
Abundance or Equality—Voltaire vs. Rousseau
Enlightenment thinkers debated the moral status of material well-being. Voltaire argued that the abundance created by commerce was the basis of civilization. Rousseau countered that material progress had increased inequality and undermined virtue.
6.
Abundance or Equality—Voltaire vs. Rousseau
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24.
Fascists on Capitalism—Freyer and Schmitt
This lecture looks at the critiques of the Weimar Republic's liberal democracy by political analyst Carl Schmitt and sociologist Hans Freyer, who argued that capitalist democracy posed a threat to effective government and national power.
24.
Fascists on Capitalism—Freyer and Schmitt
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7.
Seeing the Invisible Hand—Adam Smith
In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith explained how a competitive market could channel self-interest into socially beneficial directions.
7.
Seeing the Invisible Hand—Adam Smith
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25.
Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism
This lecture looks at ideas about the importance of markets introduced by Ludwig von Mises and further developed by his student, Friedrich von Hayek, whose "neo-liberal" approach focused on individual liberty and the restriction of government. Hayek's theories about the roots of Fascism and the link between anti-Semitism and anticapitalism are also examined.
25.
Mises and Hayek on Irrational Socialism
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8.
Smith on Merchants, Politicians, Workers
Smith argued that capitalism diverged from his competitive model, with each economic group trying to use its political power to promote its own interest. He urged policymakers to promote competitive markets that served the general interest.
8.
Smith on Merchants, Politicians, Workers
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26.
Schumpeter on Capitalism's Self-Destruction
You focus on Schumpeter's version of the notion that capitalism ignites processes that destroy its institutional foundations—set forth in his Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.
26.
Schumpeter on Capitalism's Self-Destruction
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9.
Smith on the Problems of Commercial Society
Smith's influence was probably greatest in arguing against government's direct economic involvement, but Smith, in fact, believed that a well-functioning government was the only source of many essential functions for a commercial society.
9.
Smith on the Problems of Commercial Society
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27.
The Rise of Welfare-State Capitalism
Perhaps the most important transformation of capitalism in the mid-20th century was the development of welfare-state capitalism. This lecture explores its origins and the varieties of welfare-state capitalism that developed after World War II.
27.
The Rise of Welfare-State Capitalism
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10.
Smith on Moral and Immoral Capitalism
You explore Smith's views on how a capitalist society could make people better and better off—but that lack of the rule of law, or inequality before it, could cause commerce to lead to immoral outcomes.
10.
Smith on Moral and Immoral Capitalism
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28.
Pluralism as Limit to Social Justice—Hayek
This lecture examines Hayek's conception of the links between capitalism and Liberalism, which called into question many of the premises of those who wanted to use the welfare state to shape society.
28.
Pluralism as Limit to Social Justice—Hayek
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11.
Conservatism and Advanced Capitalism—Burke
Edmund Burke offered a conservative analysis of the hazards posed by some forms of capitalism. His Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) remains the most influential work of conservative thought ever published.
11.
Conservatism and Advanced Capitalism—Burke
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29.
Herbert Marcuse and the New Left Critique
During the 1960s, Herbert Marcuse's most influential work analyzed contemporary capitalism's ability to keep the masses quiescent by manipulating their needs.
29.
Herbert Marcuse and the New Left Critique
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12.
Conservatism and Periphery Capitalism—Möser
Justus Möser is an example of a conservative in a largely precommercial society, for whom the spread of international capitalism was a threat to existing ways of life.
12.
Conservatism and Periphery Capitalism—Möser
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30.
Contradictions of Postindustrial Society
In the 1970s, Daniel Bell argued that America had entered a postindustrial age and that capitalism undermined the work ethic, frugality, and deferred gratification that it depended on.
30.
Contradictions of Postindustrial Society
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13.
Hegel on Capitalism and Individuality
This lecture introduces you to Hegel's ideas about capitalism, individuality, and how institutions foster individuality.
13.
Hegel on Capitalism and Individuality
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31.
The Family under Capitalism
This lecture examines some useful conceptual frameworks for thinking about the links between capitalism and the family.
31.
The Family under Capitalism
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14.
Hamilton, List, and the Case for Protection
You encounter two voices in the early debate over free international trade: Alexander Hamilton, who made the case for protecting "infant industries," and Friedrich List, who developed Hamilton's ideas into a national industrial policy.
14.
Hamilton, List, and the Case for Protection
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32.
Tensions with Democracy—Buchanan and Olson
You explore James M. Buchanan's critique of Keynesianism based on public choice theory and Mancur Olson's explanation of how the logic of collective action could lead to economic stagnation.
32.
Tensions with Democracy—Buchanan and Olson
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15.
De Tocqueville on Capitalism in America
Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America explores the propensity toward individualism and materialism in America and the countervailing influence of republican institutions and religion.
15.
De Tocqueville on Capitalism in America
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33.
End of Communism, New Era of Globalization
This lecture explores the origins and nature of the newest era of globalization and puts it into historical perspective.
33.
End of Communism, New Era of Globalization
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16.
Marx and Engels—The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels concluded that industrial capitalism profited only the wealthy while leading to the material and moral degradation of the masses. Nevertheless, in The Communist Manifesto (1848), they also recognized capitalism's achievements and possibilities.
16.
Marx and Engels—The Communist Manifesto
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34.
Capitalism and Nationalism—Ernest Gellner
An interpretation of modern history argues that the processes that made capitalism possible also led to changes in personal identity that made nationalism attractive.
34.
Capitalism and Nationalism—Ernest Gellner
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17.
Marx's Capital and the Degradation of Work
Marx spent most of the decades after The Communist Manifesto working on his comprehensive analysis of the capitalist economy. Although he provided a searing portrait of the industrial factory's degradation of labor, he overlooked the trends that argued against his theory.
17.
Marx's Capital and the Degradation of Work
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35.
The Varieties of Capitalism
You examine capitalist societies from five perspectives—political structures, types of welfare states, developmental strategies, forms of business, and extent of equality.
35.
The Varieties of Capitalism
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18.
Matthew Arnold on Capitalism and Culture
The British poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold was concerned about "Philistinism"—spiritual and cultural narrowing in a capitalist society and the spill-over effect of applying a narrowly utilitarian, market mentality to other areas.
18.
Matthew Arnold on Capitalism and Culture
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36.
Intrinsic Tensions in Capitalism
Why has capitalism been so productive and innovative, and why has it outlasted its competitors, such as Socialism? You look at some recent thinking on this and at some intrinsic tensions in capitalism.
36.
Intrinsic Tensions in Capitalism
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12
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
The Economist's Tool Kit—6 Principles
Assemble the intellectual tool kit that will be used throughout the course to help you see the world from an economist's perspective. The first tools in your kit are six principles of human behavior accepted by nearly all economists as fundamental.
1.
The Economist's Tool Kit—6 Principles
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7.
Playing the Odds—Reason in a Risky World
People can strategically use information—selectively controlling, hiding, or subsidizing it—to influence the decisions of others. Examine concepts like the informational blind date and information asymmetry and see how they can lead to consequences like adverse selection and even the 2008 financial crisis.
7.
Playing the Odds—Reason in a Risky World
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2.
The Economist's Tool Kit—3 Core Concepts
Complete your tool kit for economic thinking with three key concepts. Learn what an economist means by rational decision making; how marginal analysis is used to solve complex problems; and how you combine these first two concepts to understand optimization.
2.
The Economist's Tool Kit—3 Core Concepts
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8.
The Economics of Information
Safety, like everything, has a cost; at some point, being a little safer costs more than it is worth. By studying how economists evaluate risk, learn how the concept of expected value permits rational decision making in situations with risk, but also brings its own set of dangers.
8.
The Economics of Information
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3.
The Myth of "True Value"
Put your new tools to work by examining a central conclusion in economic thinking: that rational individual choices can—even though they might not always—produce socially efficient results, where no person can be made better off without harming another.
3.
The Myth of "True Value"
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9.
A Matter of Time—Predicting Future Values
Time can be one of the most important factors in economic thought; when events occur matters. This lecture looks at how economists deal with this critical factor, introducing you to concepts such as nominal versus real value and present versus future value.
9.
A Matter of Time—Predicting Future Values
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4.
Incentives and Optimal Choice
How do economists think about the rights and rules that govern human interactions? Using real-life examples and classic problems like the Prisoner's Dilemma, plunge into questions of ownership, trade, and compensation and how ideas like incentives and responsibilities are intimately connected to them.
4.
Incentives and Optimal Choice
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10.
Think Again—Evaluating Risk in Purchasing
Apply several of the new tools you've been working with to learn how an economist might confront one complex choice you have likely faced yourself: whether to purchase that extended warranty on an expensive consumer item like a big-screen television.
10.
Think Again—Evaluating Risk in Purchasing
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5.
False Incentives, Real Harm
Two case studies involving tragic fires help you grasp two classic economic situations—the Tragedy of the Commons and the difficulties of providing a public good. Then, apply what you have learned to see how an economist would think about the even larger problem of global climate change.
5.
False Incentives, Real Harm
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11.
Behavioral Economics—What Are We Thinking?
Despite the predictive power of conventional economic presumptions about fundamental rationality, behavioral economists are showing that we sometimes do things that indeed seem irrational. Delve into several examples of this and possible means of overcoming these behaviors.
11.
Behavioral Economics—What Are We Thinking?
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6.
The Economics of Ignorance
In the first of three lectures examining how economists approach situations where information is incomplete, imperfect, or inaccurate, learn that there can indeed be an optimal level of ignorance. Also, explore some cost-efficient ways to reduce uncertainty.
6.
The Economics of Ignorance
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12.
Acting like an Economist
Apply what you've learned by thinking like an economist about three different issues: doing a cost-benefit analysis of crime from a criminal's perspective; altering our own structure of incentives to motivate healthier behaviors; and finding policy solutions to traffic congestion and its resulting pollution.
12.
Acting like an Economist
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