Home Page for Econ 4999: Economics, Ethics, and the Envrionment
Spring 2008: Tuesday/Thursday 2:0-3:15, MCOL (museum collections, next to Econ. building) E158
Office hours: Tuesdays 1:00-1:45, Thursdays 3:15-4:00 and by appointment. Feel free to email.
Links to course materials will be activated when the material becomes available
Unless otherwise specified, the materials available online are in .pdf format and can be read with the Adobe Acrobat Reader
In brief, ethics is another word for moral philosphy: how to determine right from wrong (whether an action or policy is a good or bad thing). This course will investigate and question the moral philosphy of economics, and environmental economics in particular. So, the course is, in part, a course on moral philophy. The course will also question many of the basic assumptions of economics - "do individuals really maximize their utility?" - looking at evidence from psychology and other fields. Happiness will be discussed in detail; does economic policy increase happiness.
This is a writing course: to do well you will need to write well. It you like writing, write well, and want to critically think about the foundations of economics, this might be the course for you.
Readings and lecture notes available online - by topic
Interesting and noteworthy student essays
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Last Update: 01-14-2010 visitors since January 4, 2006.