GOVT 20.10
Markets and Their Critics
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to explore the nature and implications of the market primarily as a political, but also as a social, economic and even moral phenomenon. From being a marginal, controlled, and secondary social institution in most early societies, markets have risen to become a central mode of social coordination and economic production, distribution and exchange in modern ones throughout the Western and non-Western world. What is the best way of thinking about this transformation in the prominence of the market in human life? Why has it happened, whom has it benefited, whom has it harmed, what functions has it served, what new problems has it created, and what if anything are the limits on the social utility of markets? These questions have reverberated down the centuries, and the answers have varied over time and place. This course will provide a rich interdisciplinary introduction to some of the most important practical and theoretical benchmarks, past and present.