Department of Economics & International Development, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
EC30172 Welfare economics & distributive justice |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX100 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take EC20010 and take EC20147 |
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Aims: The aims of this unit are to provide a good understanding of the underpinnings of welfare economics and distributive justice beginning with the welfare properties of general equilibrium.
Learning Outcomes: At a general level, students will be equipped with the ability to analyse economic decisions under the light of formal principles of economic welfare and fairness. At a more practical level, students will be able to choose among rules of fair division of resources, on the basis of the properties of these rules. Skills: Ability to develop rigorous arguments through precise use of concepts and mathematical models (Taught/Facilitated/Assessed) Ability to select, summarise and synthesise written information from multiple sources (T/F/A) Ability to select and use appropriate ideas to produce a coherent response to a pre-set question (T/F/A) Comprehensive and scholarly written communication (T/F/A) Concise and effective written communication (e.g. briefings / written exams) (T/F/A) Effective oral communication (e.g. lecture question and answer) (F). Content: Pareto optimality and the Pareto criterion. Principles of distributive justice. Cardinal welfarism. Ordinal welfarism. Solutions to the problem of the Commons. Economic exploitation in general, and economic exploitation in capitalism. Key texts: Moulin, Herve. 2003. Fair Division & Collective Welfare. Cambridge, MA. Roemer, John E. 1988. Free to Lose: An Introduction to Marxist Economic Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. |