ECON356: History of Economic Thought (1 Viewer)

[Master E]

Hello everyone. Cant find a thread on this subject.

Im thinking of taking this unit next sem. Does anyone have any thoughts on this subject (is it interesting, difficult,etc)? I know Wylie Bradford takes it, and ive had him before and found he's a pretty good teacher.

Thanks

 

[gnrlies]

Yah its a good unit... If you are thinking about doing honours then you need to take it (question is whether you do it in your honours year or before hand).

Some general comments:

Dont do it if you dont like reading, and writing essays. It is not a technical subject at all, so your grasp of previous econ units probably wont help you other than knowing a bit of background theory that may have aleady been covered in other units (e.g. solow / swan growth model is mentioned, but you dont need to know necessarily how it works).

If you are at all interested in economics in a purist sense (i.e. you arent necessarily doing it for the $$$ but because you are truly are passionate about economics) then this in my book is a prerequisite. If you are to call yourself an economist I think its important to know the evolution of economic thought.

Im assuming he is still teaching it in the same way, but he teaches it in a manner whereby you learn strands of economic theory starting with value theory, then moving onto some others like growth / cycles. Other couses at other universities ive heard structure it in terms of major contributors (Smith, Ricardo, Marx etc) which probably isn't as insightfull.

But I can say it is a challenging unit. Remember the first time you ever read shakespeare and thought "what the?" Well get ready for plenty of those moments as you have to read many original texts that were written several hundred years ago. The reading alone makes this a more time consuming unit in terms of study, but to get a good grade is not so hard if you do the work. Wiley Bradford is fair and doesn't expect perfection so long as he knows you have put the effort in and have some concept of what you are talking about.

 

[Master E]

Yah its a good unit... If you are thinking about doing honours then you need to take it (question is whether you do it in your honours year or before hand).

Some general comments:

Dont do it if you dont like reading, and writing essays. It is not a technical subject at all, so your grasp of previous econ units probably wont help you other than knowing a bit of background theory that may have aleady been covered in other units (e.g. solow / swan growth model is mentioned, but you dont need to know necessarily how it works).

If you are at all interested in economics in a purist sense (i.e. you arent necessarily doing it for the $$$ but because you are truly are passionate about economics) then this in my book is a prerequisite. If you are to call yourself an economist I think its important to know the evolution of economic thought.

Im assuming he is still teaching it in the same way, but he teaches it in a manner whereby you learn strands of economic theory starting with value theory, then moving onto some others like growth / cycles. Other couses at other universities ive heard structure it in terms of major contributors (Smith, Ricardo, Marx etc) which probably isn't as insightfull.

But I can say it is a challenging unit. Remember the first time you ever read shakespeare and thought "what the?" Well get ready for plenty of those moments as you have to read many original texts that were written several hundred years ago. The reading alone makes this a more time consuming unit in terms of study, but to get a good grade is not so hard if you do the work. Wiley Bradford is fair and doesn't expect perfection so long as he knows you have put the effort in and have some concept of what you are talking about.

Thanks for the write-up, mate!

I've been waiting for a unit like this to come along. Frankly, i've grown tired of the technicalities of first and second year economics. I've always preferred expressing thoughts and ideas in words rather than learning and applying derivations of formulae and equations. Though I accept its importance, I think there is too much of an emphasis on the technical side in uni economics and not enough on roundly expressing ideas and processes. So i'm one who would rather read through a coherent set of thoughts than look at the intricacies of a mathematical proof that lack rigor - but i do appreciate both.

Having gone over the 07 unit outline, i notice there isn't a set text for this unit - which is understandable. But if I had to have one text by my side during this holiday break, is there one you would recommend?

Thanks for your help!

 

[gnrlies]

Thanks for the write-up, mate!

I've been waiting for a unit like this to come along. Frankly, i've grown tired of the technicalities of first and second year economics. I've always preferred expressing thoughts and ideas in words rather than learning and applying derivations of formulae and equations. Though I accept its importance, I think there is too much of an emphasis on the technical side in uni economics and not enough on roundly expressing ideas and processes. So i'm one who would rather read through a coherent set of thoughts than look at the intricacies of a mathematical proof that lack rigor - but i do appreciate both.

Having gone over the 07 unit outline, i notice there isn't a set text for this unit - which is understandable. But if I had to have one text by my side during this holiday break, is there one you would recommend?

Thanks for your help!

Yes well the maths can often suck the fun out of economics, but this being said, it is important to know so I suppose they need to get the basics out the way (in first and second year) and get to the fun stuff later. Its a bit like learning to spell before you learn how to write novels. You will find that Econ311 and 309 take a different direction to previous econ110 and 111, 200 201. They are more focussed on abstract analysis than mathematical analysis.

There is no set text, mainly because no good text covers everything that you will go through in the course. If I could recomend anything though it would be economic theory in retrospect by Mark Blaug. I think the library has a few copies so you wont need to buy it. Fortunately economic history doesn't get out of date, and Mark Blaug is one of the best writers on the subject (although its not a glossy account of economic history and may not necessarily be the easiest to read).

Amazon has some other texts at fairly competitive prices but im not quite sure of the authors or the quality of the text.

If you just want to do some background study I would recommend being familiar with the main contributors to economic theory. Just know who they are, what they did and when they were alive. Also research what schools they belong to and what those schools generally advocated. To be honest a simple search in wikipedia should provide enough of the basics.

From memory (I did this subject a few years ago you see) he starts with value theory which goes all the way back to aristotle so it can be good to have a general knowledge of history as well. (including pre Smith ideas such as mercantalism and the pysiocrats).

 

[Master E]

Cheers, thanks for the help!

 

[Tabris]

I absolutely agree with Gnrlies on ECON311 and 309.

Its an entirely different take on economics, these subjects have plenty of readings to do (At least when Bill Junor convened it) and the difficulty and demand placed on students (just look at Craig Freedman's unit outline).

Like what Gnrlies said, maths is minimal, in fact there is not one equation that u need to remember for the exam. ECON309 is like consultancy on business enterprise problems. ECON311 will basically throw alot of the stuff u learnt about Macroeconomics out the window, it will have alot of critique on previous principles and theres usually 3 or so junors u have to read, ranging from a dozen to 30 pages or so.

 

[Student_A]

Hey all,

I am actually considering taking Econ356, next year.

My friends say the Final exam is just writing essays. But I haven't written an economics essay before. My other econ units were mostly mathematical.

What does an economics essay entail? Does it involve critical analysis and your thoughts/views. Do we just give our argument and back it up with credible sources/evidence?

How do we prepare and study for the Econ356 final exam?

Thanks,
Fiona