PO 352 - Theory and Practice: Problems of Political Economy

One of the most fundamental and enduring political problems is finding the right balance between the goods of individuals and the good of the community. Modern America confronts that issue in our debates over health care, education, environmental policy, transportation, and the like. This course aims to unite the study of political theory and contemporary politics by analyzing the problem of political economy as it currently exists in the United States in light of the understandings of this problem proposed by various political theorists. Several questions present themselves for study. What is the proper purpose and extent of political authority in economic life? In what ways might the pursuit of private interests promote public goods, and in what ways do those interests and goods simply diverge? Are there some things that are properly the work of government, even if they might be accomplished by the private sector? We will consider works by Aristotle and Aquinas; Locke, Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo; Marx, Mill, and Marshall; Keynes and Hayek; Axelrod and Hirschman; and contemporary treatments of the economic problems of poverty and the environment.

Four credits.