Note to anyone reading this syllabus on the URPE Web site: All of my courses have lecture notes, problems and tests, and if people want to use this material all you need to do is to ask me. Fred

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RADICAL ECONOMICS                                                                   Professor F. S. Lee

(ECON 307)                                                                                        Office:  Manheim Hall, Room 202D

Section VOA                                                                                       Office Hours:  MW 9.00 to 10.00

Winter 2003                                                                                                                By appt.

                                                                                                            Office Tel.  816-235-2543

                                                                                                            E-mail:  leefs@umkc.edu

 

Lectures:         Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 11.00 – 12.00, Royall Hall 311

 

Required Texts:           C. Sackrey, G. Schneider, and J. Knoedler,  Introduction to Political Economy

                                    D. Dowd, Understanding Capitalism:  Critical Analysis from Karl Marx to

Amartya Sen

                                    P. Baran and P. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital:  An Essay on the American

Economic and Social Order

 

Assessment:    In-Class Exam covers sections I & II (week 7) worth 25% of your final grade

                        Final Exam covers section III & IV (May 6, 1.00 – 3.00) worth 50% of your final grade

                        Project drawn from section V worth 25% of your final grade

 

Project:           This will be a 2,500 – 3,000 word essay based on one of the topics in section V.  It is due

by April 25, 2003.  Additional information will be forthcoming.

 

Problem Sets:  To be distributed.

 

Course Description:    The aim of the course is to provide a survey of the ideas that constitute radical

economics, to show how they can be used to examine current economic and social problems, and to outline possible economic structures of utopian visions.

 

LECTURE AND READING OUTLINE

 

I.          Introduction:  What is Radical Economics

 

            A.        Issues of Economic Theory

 

                        1.         Sackrey, et. al., ch. 1.

                        2.         Dowd, Introduction

 

            B.        Issues of Politics and Policy

 

            C.        New Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

II.         Radical Economic Theory in the 19th Century Classical-Socialist-Marxist Traditions

 

A.        The Beginning:  Classical Political Economy

 

1.         Langer, G. F.  1988.  “Corn:  A Classical Landscape.”  Economic Notes 17.1:  5 – 21.

 

B.        Economics, Socialism, and Utopia

 

            1.         Claeys, G.  1987.  Machinery, Money and the Millennium:  From Moral Economy

to Socialism, 1815 – 1860.  Princeton:  Princeton University Press.

2.         Burkitt, B.  1984.  Radical Political Economy.  New York:  New York University Press, chs. 2-3, “Robert Owen” and “The Ricardian Socialists.”

 

C.        Marxian Economic Theory

 

            1.         Sackrey et. al., ch.2.

            2.         Dowd, ch. 1.

3.         Burkitt, B.  1984.  Radical Political Economy.  New York:  New York University

Press, chs. 4-5, “The Economics of Marx:  The Background” and “The Economics of Marx:  Tools of Analysis.”

4.         Howard, M. and King, J.  1989, 1992.  A History of Marxian Economics, Vol. I

and II.

                        5.         Marx, K.  Wage, Labor and Capital

                        6.         Marx, K.  Value, Price and Profit

 

D.        Christian, Ethical, and Fabian Socialism

 

1.         Dennis, N. and Halsey, A. H.  1988.  English Ethical Socialism.  Oxford:  Clarendon Press.

2.         Shaw, G. B.  (ed.)  1989.  Fabian Essays in Socialism.  London:  The Walter Scott

Publishing Co., Ltd.

3.         McBriar, A. M.  1962.  Fabian Socialism and English Politics, 1884 – 1918.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

4.         Burkitt, B.  1984.  Radical Political Economy.  New York:  New York University

Press, ch. 6.

                        5.         Jones, Peter d’A.  1968.  The Christian Socialist Revival, 1877 – 1914.  Princeton: 

Princeton University Press.

 

III.       Radical Economic Theory in the 20th Century

 

            A.        Thorstein Veblen and Radical Institutionalism

 

                        1.         Sackrey et. al., ch. 3.

            2.         Dowd, chs. 2 and 4.

            3.         Dugger, W. M. (ed.).  1989.  Radical Institutionalism:  Contemporary Voices. 

New York:  Greenwood Press.

                        4.         Veblen, T.  “On the Nature and Uses of Sabotage.”

B.        Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution

 

            1.         Sackrey, et. al., ch. 4.

 

C.        Kalecki, Steindl, Sweezy, and the Monopoly Capital Tradition

 

            1.         Sackrey, et. al., chs. 5 and 7.

            2.         Dowd, ch. 6.

            3.         Baran and Sweezy, Monopoly Capital.

            4.         “Toward a Critique of Economics”

            5.         “On the Theory of Monopoly Capitalism”

            6.         “The Logic of Stagnation”

            7.         “Agriculture and Monopoly Capital”

            8.         “Corporate Concentration”

            9.         Foster, J. B. and Szlaijfer, H. (eds.)  1984.  The Faltering Economy:  The Problem

of Accumulation Under Monopoly Capitalism.  New York:  Monthly Review Press.

 

D.        Post Keynesian Tradition

 

            1.         Sackrey, et. al., ch. 6.

            2.         Dowd, ch. 5.

 

IV.       Radical Economics:  Art, Song, and Utopia

 

            A.        Radical Economics and Utopia

 

1.         Bellamy, E.  1977.  Looking Backwards:  2000 – 1887.

2.         Morris, W.  1995.  News from Nowhere.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

                        3.         J. London, Iron Heel

                        4.         G. Orwell, 1984

                        5.         Schaer, R., Claeys, G. and Sargent, L. T. (eds.)  2000.  Utopia:  The Search for the

Ideal Society in the Western World.  New York:  Oxford University Press, pp. 3 – 31 and 206 – 240.

6.         Kumar, K.  1993.  Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modern Times.  Oxford:  Oxford University Press.

 

            B.        Radical Economics and Art and Song

 

1.         Morris, W.  1993.  Art and Society.  Boston:  George’s Hill.

2.         Place, J. and Cohen, R. D.  2000.  The Best of Broadside, 1962 – 1988:  Anthems

of the American Underground from the Pages of Broadside Magazine.  Washington, D. C.:  Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

3.         Zurier, R.  1988.  Art for the Masses:  A Radical Magazine and Its Graphics, 1911

– 1917.  Philadelphia:  Temple University Press.

4.         Buhle, P. and Sullivan, E. B.  1998.  Images of American Radicalism.  Hanover: 

The Christopher Publishing House.

5.         Seeger, P. and Reiser, B.  1985.  Carry It On!  A History in Song and Picture of

America’s Working Men and Women.  New York:  Simon and Schuster.

 

V.        Radical Economics is the Question and Application

 

            A.        Was Women’s Liberation an Exercise in Radical Economics?

 

            B.        Was or is the Market a Radical Economic Idea?

 

                        1.         “The History of the Market”

 

            C.        What is Radical Economics View of Globalization

 

                        1.         “Globalization is an Issue, the Power of Capital is the Issue”

                        2.         “Monopoly Capital and the New Globalization”

 

            D.        What is Radical Economics View of the New Economy

 

                        1.         “The New Economy:  Myth and Reality”

                        2.         “New Economy…Same Irrational Economy”

 

            E.         Is Ecological Economics Radical Economics?

 

                        1.         “Ecology Against Capitalism”

                        2.         Soderbaum, P.  2000.  Ecological Economics.  London:  Earthscan Publications.

 

            F.         Is Green Economics Radical Economics?

 

                        1.         Cato, M. S. and Kennett, M. (eds.)  1999.  Green Economics:  Beyond Supply and

Demand to Meeting People’s Needs.  Green Audit.

 

            G.        Is Anarchist Economics Radical Economics?

 

                        1.         “Proudhon’s Economic Legacy,” “Kropotkin’s Anarchist Critique of Capitalism,”

“Peter Kropotkin’s Anarchist Communism,” and “The Collectivist Transition.”

                        2.         “Anarchism and Anti-Globalization”

3.         Dolgoff, S. (ed.)  1974.  The Anarchist Collectives:  Workers’ Self-Management

in the Spanish Revolution, 1936 – 1939.  New York.

4.         Kropotkin, P.  1985.  Fields, Factories and Workshops Tomorrow.  London:  Freedom Press.

5.         Proudhon, P.  1972.  System of Economic Contradictions or the Philosophy of

Poverty.  New York:  Arno Press.

            H.        Is the Living Wage Movement Radical Economics/Policy?

 

1.         Brailsford, et. al.  1926.  The Living Wage.  Independent Labour Party.

2.         Temple, W.  1914.  The Industrial Unrest and the Living Wage.  London:  P. S. King and Son.

 

            I.          Is the Anti-Sweatshop Movement Radical Economics/Policy?

 

            J.         What is the Radical Economic Content of Syndicalism, Guild Socialism, and Worker

Control?

 

1.         Cole, G. D. H.  1919.  Self-Government in Industry.

2.         Kornbluh, J. L.  (ed.)  1988.  Rebel Voices:  An IWW Anthology.  Chicago:  Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company.

3.         Burkitt, B.  1984.  Radical Political Economy, ch. 6.

 

            K.        Can there be a Christian/Religious Radical Economics Approach?

 

            L.         Is Georgism Radical Economics?

 

                        1.         Gaffney, M. and Harrison, F.  1994.  The Corruption of Economics.  London: 

Centre for Incentive Taxation Ltd.

                        2.         George, H.  1979.  Poverty and Progress.

 

            M.        Is Feminist Economics Radical Economics?

 

            N.        Is Full Employment and Price Stability Radical Economic Policy?

 

            O.        What is Radical Economics Approach to the Environment?

 

1.         Daly, H.  1977.  Steady-State Economics.

 

            P.         What is the Radical Economics of LETS Schemes?

 

Q.        Is Small is Beautiful Radical Economics?

 

1.         Schumacher, E.  1973.  Small is Beautiful.

 

            R.        What is Radical Economics View of the U.S. Constitution?

 

                        1.         Beard, C. A.  1998.  An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United

States.  New Brunswick:  Transaction Publishers.

 

            S.         What is Radical Economics View of Luddism?

 

                        1.         Noble, D. F.  1993.  Progress Without People:  In Defense of Luddism.  Chicago.