Syllabus
BPE_HET1
History of Economic Thought
Instructor: Zurab Abramishvili
16:20 – 17:55 Wed
18:00 – 18:45 Wed
Fall 2014
E-mail: Zurab.Abramishvili@cerge-ei.cz
Prerequisites:
Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics.
Textbooks:
1. Brue and Grant, The Evolution of Economic Thought, 7th ed.,2010 (*)
2. Roger E. Backhouse, The Ordinary Business of Life: A History of Economics from the Ancient
World to the Twenty-first Century, 2002
3. Robbins, Lionel, A History of Economic Thought, The LSE Lectures, 2000.
4. Blaug, Mark, Economic Theory in Retrospect, Fifth Edition, 1997.
5. Schumpeter, Joseph, History of Economic Analysis, 1954.
The lecture topics cover the following:
1. Course Introduction – Why Study History of Economic Thought?
2. Antiquity, Christianity, Scholasticism
3. Mercantilism and Cameralism
4. Formation of the (Classical) Economics
5. Cantillon, Physiocracy and Turgot
6. Smith and the Birth of the Classical Political Economy
7. Classical Political Economy I
8. Classical Political Economy II
9. Heterodox Economicsof the 19th Century
10. The Marginalist Revolution
11. Austrian School and Lausanne School
Course Objective and Focus:
To increase the student’s understanding of the development, progression, and regression of human
understanding of how humans do and should act in the ordinary business of life. Beginning with ancient
civilizations we will progress historically (as far as we are able) to the present day, taking a broad view of
what constitutes economic thought.
Instructor Expectations of Students:
Students are expected to come to class having read the assigned readings prior to lecture and
discussion. Students are encouraged to form study groups among themselves, assist one another in
mastering material, and provide one another with any missed notes.
Homework:
Problem sets will be assigned periodically. These are graded, and exam questions will be based, in part,
upon the problem sets.
Seminars:
1. Seminar (24.09)
Xenophon: Oeconomicus
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle: Politics
2. Seminar (8.10)
David Hume: On Money
Richard Cantillon: Essay On the Nature of Trade In General
François Quesnay: Economic Table
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot: Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches
3. Seminar (22.10)
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
David Ricardo: Political Economy
Jean-Baptiste Say: A Treatise on Political Economy
4. Seminar (05.11)
John Stuart Mill: Principles of Political Economy
Thomas Tooke: An Inquiry into the Currency Principle
Frédéric Bastiat: What is Seen and What is not Seen
Marx: Capital
5. Seminar (19.11)
Daniel Bernoulli: Exposition of a New Theory on the Measurement of Risk
Antoine Augustin Cournot: Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth
Eugen Böhm von Bawerk: The Foundations of the Theory of the Economic Value of Goods
6. Seminar (03.12, voluntary)
John Stuart Mill: Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy
Grading:
Midterm is worth 40% (29.10)
The homework [5 problem sets] counts as 15% (Due to 1.10; 22.10; 12.11; 26.11; 03.12)
The final is worth 45% (10.12)