Goals for the day:
· For you to consider the type of value we should be measuring within economic transactions
· For you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the different schools of economic thought
This is the final day of our project intro. This means we’re going to cover lots of ground.
1. For a starter I will share a story related to our discussion about whether the ease or difficulty of living within the Durango area. I’ll also ask whether you think there is any moral aspect to what people buy.
2. We’ll then spend about twenty minutes looking at and making some graphs so you can see how neoclassical economists approach consumption. Here is the worksheet we used in class.
3. Then we’ll look at how a contextual economist thinks about consumption with some facts about poverty, debt, environmental impact, and local vs. non-local purchasing. This will give you two angles on consumption.
4. We’ll then talk about what we measure when giving something value. You’ll pick from some options for measuring well-being or wealth or utility....It's important you decide what word best captures "value" because of the rule "what you measure is what you get."
5. Given the word you choose, how would increase that particular quality in people’s lives by selling something to them? For example, if you chose happiness, what product, service, or entity would you sell or promote to increase people’s happiness? Get creative. The organization Local First that I helped to start is selling “community” by promoting locally-owned, independent businesses. Obviously, in thinking about selling we are starting to move toward our “business unit.”
6. After break, we’ll share a bit about what we chose. Then we’ll listen to another short section of Freakonomics.
7. Finally, you’ll put all this material together and describe the strengths and weaknesses of the three schools of economics that we’ve discussed: classical, neo-classical, and contextual.
That's the plan...As always we'll see what happens when we press "Go" and adapt accordingly.
Homework due on Friday, January 16th
Bring in at least two sentences on your topic for your senior project
· For you to consider the type of value we should be measuring within economic transactions
· For you to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the different schools of economic thought
This is the final day of our project intro. This means we’re going to cover lots of ground.
1. For a starter I will share a story related to our discussion about whether the ease or difficulty of living within the Durango area. I’ll also ask whether you think there is any moral aspect to what people buy.
2. We’ll then spend about twenty minutes looking at and making some graphs so you can see how neoclassical economists approach consumption. Here is the worksheet we used in class.
3. Then we’ll look at how a contextual economist thinks about consumption with some facts about poverty, debt, environmental impact, and local vs. non-local purchasing. This will give you two angles on consumption.
4. We’ll then talk about what we measure when giving something value. You’ll pick from some options for measuring well-being or wealth or utility....It's important you decide what word best captures "value" because of the rule "what you measure is what you get."
5. Given the word you choose, how would increase that particular quality in people’s lives by selling something to them? For example, if you chose happiness, what product, service, or entity would you sell or promote to increase people’s happiness? Get creative. The organization Local First that I helped to start is selling “community” by promoting locally-owned, independent businesses. Obviously, in thinking about selling we are starting to move toward our “business unit.”
6. After break, we’ll share a bit about what we chose. Then we’ll listen to another short section of Freakonomics.
7. Finally, you’ll put all this material together and describe the strengths and weaknesses of the three schools of economics that we’ve discussed: classical, neo-classical, and contextual.
That's the plan...As always we'll see what happens when we press "Go" and adapt accordingly.
Homework due on Friday, January 16th
Bring in at least two sentences on your topic for your senior project