Goals for the day:
Good morning…Today we’re moving into policy land. Today, we’ll move through a general introduction. Tomorrow, we’ll get specific and I’ll pass out the overview of option 3 for your project: a policy proposal.
Policy brings us back to the questions that we considered at the start of the semester: why do people behave the way they do, what motivates them, what values should our economic system be trying to promote.
This week we’re going to be introducing different economists with differing views on these questions. At the end of the week, you’ll get to sort through who you think is right or wrong or somewhere in between. This is especially important for policy because policy is about creating the world you want to see and how you go about that task. Today you’ll be learning about Adam Smith.
1. We’ll start though with a game to get you going on your thinking for the third outline assignment. I have cookies in my desk for the winners…Hopefully you’ll walk out stimulated with ideas and more of a sense of what makes a good thesis, reasons, and evidence.
2. Then you’ll stay in small groups and I’ll give you this list of local policies that I’ve purloined from the websites of local government agencies. You’ll answer the questions at the top of the sheet about what kind of policies they are. Most important, you’ll apply the concepts we’ve been talking about for the last week: resilience and economic development to this list. You need to apply your understanding in order for it to stick.
3. After break, I’ll give you a reading for you to engage with about Mr. Smith and his ideas about human nature. You’ll do a bit of journaling about this short reading to get a preliminary take down on paper.
4. One of the applications of Adam Smith’s ideas has been a faith in the benefits of self-interest and the power of incentives. The final section of class today, we’ll watch Stephen Levitt and his team test the power of incentives on 9th graders. Think about whether this experiment works or not and its implications for creating policy.
Homework due Wednesday, February 11th
· Read the section in Three Great Economists on Karl Marx
· Journal entry – What is one thing from Marx’s ideas that resonate with you? What is a counterargument to Marx’s ideas?
- To understand different types of policies
- Apply your understanding of resilience to local policy
- Think critically about the ideas of Adam Smith
Good morning…Today we’re moving into policy land. Today, we’ll move through a general introduction. Tomorrow, we’ll get specific and I’ll pass out the overview of option 3 for your project: a policy proposal.
Policy brings us back to the questions that we considered at the start of the semester: why do people behave the way they do, what motivates them, what values should our economic system be trying to promote.
This week we’re going to be introducing different economists with differing views on these questions. At the end of the week, you’ll get to sort through who you think is right or wrong or somewhere in between. This is especially important for policy because policy is about creating the world you want to see and how you go about that task. Today you’ll be learning about Adam Smith.
1. We’ll start though with a game to get you going on your thinking for the third outline assignment. I have cookies in my desk for the winners…Hopefully you’ll walk out stimulated with ideas and more of a sense of what makes a good thesis, reasons, and evidence.
2. Then you’ll stay in small groups and I’ll give you this list of local policies that I’ve purloined from the websites of local government agencies. You’ll answer the questions at the top of the sheet about what kind of policies they are. Most important, you’ll apply the concepts we’ve been talking about for the last week: resilience and economic development to this list. You need to apply your understanding in order for it to stick.
3. After break, I’ll give you a reading for you to engage with about Mr. Smith and his ideas about human nature. You’ll do a bit of journaling about this short reading to get a preliminary take down on paper.
4. One of the applications of Adam Smith’s ideas has been a faith in the benefits of self-interest and the power of incentives. The final section of class today, we’ll watch Stephen Levitt and his team test the power of incentives on 9th graders. Think about whether this experiment works or not and its implications for creating policy.
Homework due Wednesday, February 11th
· Read the section in Three Great Economists on Karl Marx
· Journal entry – What is one thing from Marx’s ideas that resonate with you? What is a counterargument to Marx’s ideas?