This term’s part of the course will explore a key anthropological theme: the relationship between nature and culture. Following an introduction to what anthropologists do (and why they do it), we begin with an exploration of eating arrangements and food preferences, a mundane but profound example of how culture influences natural processes. We then draw on theories of rites of passage to explore birth, initiation and death. Why are life stages constructed and managed by cultural groups in such different ways, and can we make any general statements about such rituals? After reading week, we learn about diverse cultural perspectives on the ‘natural’ environment, before examining the difficult but ‘non-natural’ topic of race. We then explore two questions central to thinking about cultural difference: Why do humans (and not animals) have cultures? How far (if at all) does language shape human thought? Finally, we end the term with a provocative debate about whether human beings are naturally violent.
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An intermediate course in microeconomic analysis.
Course content
I. Consumer Theory. Utility functions and indifference curves. Income and substitution effects. The Slutsky equation. The expenditure function, compensating and equivalent variation, and consumer surplus. Selected applications to savings and labour supply, including the effects of taxes and benefits.
II. Producer Theory. Production and cost functions. Firm and industry supply. Perfect Competition and Monopoly.
III. Strategic Choice. Basic ideas in game theory. Applications to oligopoly.
IV. General equilibrium and welfare. Competitive equilibrium. Efficiency of equilibrium. Welfare criteria.
V. Topics in welfare economics. Public goods, externalities, second best pricing.
VI. Uncertainty and information. Choice under uncertainty. Insurance markets. Asymmetric information. Selected applications.
Note: Graduate Teaching Assistants (who are often PhD students) will teach classes on this course.
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EC202 course material is hosted here.
Note: Graduate Teaching Assistants (who are often PhD students) will teach classes on this course.
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International Macroeconomics: The course offers an introduction to international macroeconomic theory and develops the main tools for macroeconomic policy analysis. We start by studying the balance of payment and the determination of exchange rates, money, and prices in open economies. We discuss the costs and benefits of different nominal exchange rate regimes and their sustainability, examining the causes and consequences of speculative attacks and financial crises, the role of international financial markets, and international macroeconomic independence.
International Trade Theory: This part of the course strives to explain the pattern of trade observed in the world and to account for the prices at which goods are traded. Positive and normative aspects of international markets are examined. Use is made of the theory of comparative advantage, increasing returns, and strategic theories of international trade. Relations between trade and domestic markets for both goods and factors are examined in terms of the theory of trade according to factor endowments.
The course studies the effect of trade policy within both partial and general equilibrium frameworks. Economic integration between countries is also discussed using the same modelling tools.
Note: Graduate Teaching Assistants (who are often PhD students) will teach classes on this course.
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The course seeks to introduce students to the major theoretical principles of labour economics and to recent applied work in the area. Topics will include labour supply, welfare policies, labour demand, the impact of the minimum wage, labour market equilibrium, the impact of immigration, wage determination, the formation of human capital, motivation of workers and issues in personnel economics, compensating wage differentials, discrimination, wage inequality, and trade unions.
Note: Graduate Teaching Assistants (who are often PhD students) will teach classes on this course.
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The course is designed to introduce students not only to a wide variety of topics and issues, but also to the wide variety of approaches used by historians. The course includes analyses of the original leading nation, Britain, and its replacement, the United States, as well as the catch-up of areas such as continental Europe, and the failure to catch-up of earlier well-placed areas such as Latin America. The effects of major events - such as wars and debt crises - are investigated, and we also consider the implications of changing global economic institutions, such as the Gold Standard and IMF, as well as the effects of sometimes rapid changes in product and process technology.
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The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the processes of domestic adjustment - in terms of institutional settings, political behaviour and policy processes - contingent on the participation of member states in the European Union. Thus, the course examines differing conceptualisations and empirical applications of 'Europeanisation' within comparative government, politics and public policy. Europeanisation has become an increasingly important focus in contemporary research, as parallel processes of convergence and divergence are apparent in the integration process and the relevance of distinct domestic settings is highlighted in this regard. With a focus on Europeanisation, the perspective is distinct from, but complementary to, existing courses on regional integration and allows students greater scope to examine patterns of domestic response to shared stimuli. At the same time, the course explores the conceptual and methodological issues that are relevant to 'Europeanisation', so as to facilitate an overall evaluation of scholarship to date.
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