The Political Economy Project
of Towson University

inquiry into the nature and causes
of the well-being of mankind

Purpose – The purpose of this effort is to support and enrich the education of Towson students who are interested in political economy, economics, political philosophy, public policy, social philosophy and related fields—any students who are seriously interested in investigating the fundamental questions of how society can best be organized to advance the well-being of mankind.

Eligibility – The bi-weekly discussions are open to all Towson University students and faculty.  The guest lecture and faculty panel are open to the general public also.

Time and location – 4:00-5:15 p.m., every other Tuesday afternoon.  Discussions will be held in Stephens 111.  The guest lecture by Don Boudreaux and the faculty panel will be held in Stephens 310.

Activities

Discussions – These are the core of the project.  Each will be based on a short reading from some classic work of political economy and some initial questions on that work offered by the person who chooses it.  A link to the passage and the initial questions will be provided in advance.  We’ll start by discussing the reading and then let the discussion flow.  Faculty may attend—director Howard Baetjer expects to be there each time—but faculty are to guide the student discussion, not lecture or otherwise talk much at all.

Guest Lecture – See schedule below, for October 7.

Faculty Panel – See schedule below, for October 21.

Schedule for fall 2008 (all activities will be held from 4:00-5:15 Tuesday afternoons, discussions in Stephens 111, lecture and faculty panel in Stephens 310):

September 9 – Discussion; the reading (H. Baetjer's choice) is the famous “man of system” passage from Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments.   The passage and discussion questions can be found here.

 

September 23 – Discussion based on a passage from Immanuel Kant (Anna Sykes’s choice; link and discussion questions to be posted soon)

 

October 7 – Guest lecture by Prof. Don Boudreaux, chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University, co-blogger with Russell Roberts at Café Hayek, author of the recent book Globalization. In Stephens 310.

 

October 21 – Faculty panel on the election.  Tentative topic: “Obama or McCain: whose policies will do least harm?”  Three faculty members will speak for fifteen minutes each on particular policy recommendations of the candidates.  Thirty minutes will be allowed for questions from the audience.  Faculty participants will be listed here soon.  In Stephens 310.

 

November 4 (Election Day) – Discussion; reading TBD

 

November 18 – Discussion; reading TBD

 

December 2 – Discussion, reading TBD

 Contact – Howard Baetjer Jr., Director; Department of Economics, 410-704-2585, hbaetjer@towson.edu
Anna Sykes, Assistant Director; International Studies, TU ’09