24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
From Free Markets to State Economies
In this introductory lecture, explore the variety of national approaches to managing economies and promoting better living standards. Also, begin to face the key central questions of why nations choose such approaches, the trade-offs between them, which ones work, and what lies ahead for each.
1.
From Free Markets to State Economies
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13.
Merging the Theories of East and West
There was no greater surprise in the 1990s than the sudden turn to growth in countries like India and Vietnam. See how these nations have merged theories from the West and East with their own unique histories to turn Communist and state-dominated economies into rapidly growing economies.
13.
Merging the Theories of East and West
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2.
A Brief History of Economic Growth
Grasp long-standing patterns of world and national growth and learn to meaningfully compare success and failure across nations and time. You begin with a brief history of economic growth around the world, with a focus on the pioneering work of its greatest chronicler, Angus Maddison.
2.
A Brief History of Economic Growth
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14.
Lessons about Economic Success
Take stock of what you've already learned by synthesizing five key lessons about the roots of economic success, examining issues like the pace of free trade and openness, investment, confidence, courage in reforming, and sustainability.
14.
Lessons about Economic Success
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3.
Economic Growth and Human Behavior
Here, you begin to focus on microeconomics, learning how strategies and policies can influence an individual's decisions about investment, production, and exchange to generate economic value.
3.
Economic Growth and Human Behavior
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15.
The Roots of Economic Failure
Economies that fail can provide lessons, too. Embark on a multilecture exploration of what those failures teach us by looking at the causes and effects of not saving or investing, as well as macroeconomic mismanagement, plutocratic strategies, local anticompetitive policies, and geographic hurdles.
15.
The Roots of Economic Failure
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4.
The Birth of the Western Free Market
With the basics of growth now in hand, you're able to see how the Industrial Revolution ignited that process in the Western world, as well as how the writings of Adam Smith influenced for centuries after how we think about economics, the role of the state, and commerce.
4.
The Birth of the Western Free Market
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16.
Politics, Statecraft, and the Fate of Economies
Although economic theories tend to ignore problems of exploitation or the interests of hegemonic powers, their impact on economies can be profound. Gain a grasp of the role that "noneconomic theories" play in determining which nations win and which ones lose.
16.
Politics, Statecraft, and the Fate of Economies
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5.
American Economic Strategies
You learn that while the United States is seen as a hallmark of free markets, its approach is actually a complex mix of state- and market-led strategies. You examine in particular how policy choices made during the recent crises may affect our future.
5.
American Economic Strategies
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17.
Corruption and Its Impact on Growth
Corruption exists everywhere, but its substance—and impact in stifling growth and economic development—can vary widely. Gain insight into how corruption differs across borders and why it matters, as well as the challenge of combating something so hard to define, observe, or measure.
17.
Corruption and Its Impact on Growth
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6.
America and Europe—Divergent Approaches
U.S. and western European economic strategies sharply diverged after World War II, particularly with regard to state involvement and social goals. Examine those diverging approaches, learning how their subsequent economic and social effects have informed economic theory and shaped current beliefs about which approach is better.
6.
America and Europe—Divergent Approaches
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18.
Informal, Inefficient Markets
While open-air markets and small informal stores might be seen as cultural flavor, they often indicate an economy overburdened with regulations, business taxes, and other challenges to small business growth. Learn how they amount to a rejection of the state's "value proposition," lowering productivity and deterring growth.
18.
Informal, Inefficient Markets
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7.
State-Led Theories of Economic Growth
Dive into the details of "state-led" miracles of growth in economies as different as Japan, Soviet Russia, and China. Conclude with an examination of the risks and downsides of state-led growth and the enduring lessons of the "Japanese miracle."
7.
State-Led Theories of Economic Growth
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19.
Technology and the Instant Economy
Explore the profound effects of communications technologies on trade, labor markets, and the interconnectedness of financial markets, eradicating traditional barriers of time and distance across economies. Also, learn how a reality once only theorized brings with it not only opportunity but challenges and vulnerabilities, as well.
19.
Technology and the Instant Economy
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8.
The Secrets of Rapid Growth in Tiger Economies
The remarkable rise of the "Asian Tigers"—South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan—in the 1960s and '70s offer great hope for developing nations. But you learn that their methods and "secrets" often differ from popular recollection and don't always apply.
8.
The Secrets of Rapid Growth in Tiger Economies
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20.
Possible Strains on Global Economic Growth
Has the pace of modern growth made the Malthusian nightmare more likely or less so? Examine the potential for exhausting our supplies of oil, drinking water, and arable land; the impact on nations; and whether globalization requires some nations to be left behind.
20.
Possible Strains on Global Economic Growth
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9.
Lessons and Limits of Japan's Economic Model
Why did the "Japanese miracle" come to such a crashing end, and what does it mean for the world? You delve deeply into the meaning of Japan's decade-plus recession, learning how state-led approaches to economic management—and their favor in emerging economies—were dramatically affected as a result.
9.
Lessons and Limits of Japan's Economic Model
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21.
Latin America—Moving Away from Free Markets
Despite their many successes, including those in China and India, free-market approaches have weakened significantly in the past two decades, particular in Latin America. Examine the roots of this dissatisfaction and how the region's left-leaning strategies might affect regional growth.
21.
Latin America—Moving Away from Free Markets
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10.
From Closed to Open Economies
A small economy today is not necessarily a long-term sentence. Analyze the amazing growth of India and China at both the macro- and microeconomic levels and gain fresh insights into how both managed to initiate rapid growth.
10.
From Closed to Open Economies
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22.
Financial Crises and Economic Theory
What are the implications of the global economic crisis of 2008–2009? Look at the hard questions raised by that crisis and the financial market interconnectedness blamed by many, including whether current economic theory is up to the challenges of this new order.
22.
Financial Crises and Economic Theory
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11.
How Can We Manage Global Growth?
Does global growth need to be managed? Get closer to an answer by examining how spectacular growth in China, India, and other regions of the world led to imbalances, catching the world's financial markets unprepared for just how "flat" the global economy had become.
11.
How Can We Manage Global Growth?
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23.
The Multipolar Economic World
How will economic and financial power shift in the second decade of the 21st century? Analyze the emerging shift toward a multipolar global economy—with China's economic influence waxing, for example, while America's wanes—and its implications.
23.
The Multipolar Economic World
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12.
China's Policies and the World Economy
The most important economic event for the history of the 21st century has almost certainly already taken place. This lecture lays out the ways in which China's astonishing growth from 1978 to the present has affected the rest of the world economy and what its future growth will mean for the global economic structure.
12.
China's Policies and the World Economy
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24.
Driving Forces, Emerging Trends
Gathering the threads of the previous lectures, pull together all you have learned to arrive at a strengthened understanding of the driving forces in economic growth, the trade-offs that all economies have faced, and the future of the world's major economic theories.
24.
Driving Forces, Emerging Trends
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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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