GOVT 20.02 Capitalism and Government
We use the term government and "commonwealth" interchangeably because we expect government to advance the actions of free people creating wealth—not just rich and propertied people, but all who benefit from economic development. As Adam Smith put it, it is the responsibility of the "sovereign" to "facilitate commerce-in-general." This course will trace the career of this assumption back to its originators. It will begin with the evolution of market relations from the peculiar history of seventeenth-century Britain. It will then look at the succession of thinkers who, having embraced the novel scientific methods of the day, sought to understand economic affairs as themselves governed by scientific laws; and who then sought to ground the legitimacy of commonwealths in laws, regulations and interventions that engendered wealth. One goal of the course is to familiarize students with foundational thinkers who gave us the discipline of economics: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Mill, and Spencer. But the final goal is to consider how foundational ideas have shaped political economic debates in America for the past hundred years: Keynes, Von Hayek, and Schumpeter.
Instructor
Avishai