Heterodox Economics

Heterodox Economics introduces students to political economy and heterodox economic approaches with a focus on neoliberalism. This course will cover heterodox approaches to economics such as Marxist political economy, feminist economics, and social economics to understand the development of neoliberal capitalism, focusing on 1980 through present. We will examine the rise of neoliberal capitalism through economic history, with a focus on understanding its implications for the state, work, and globalization, as well as inequality through an intersectional lens. We will examine key shifts in neoliberal era including: privatization of the welfare state, labor market flexibility, globalization, rising inequality, mass incarceration, and the rise of neoliberal economic ideology. In this course we will read several key texts and excerpts including the work of Chicago school economists such as Milton Friedman and Gary Becker, as well as contemporary analyses from a variety of perspectives by thinkers such as David Harvey, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Melinda Cooper, David Kotz, Quinn Slobodian and more.

Students will need a computer and internet connection for synchronous Zoom meetings, lectures, activities, and discussions. Students will also use a textbook from the Dollars & Sense Collective, Real World Globalization.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

4 - Economics: Heterodox Economics