ECONOMICS 380

HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

FROM 1870

 

Final Examination (subject to Departmental approval)

April 20, 2006

180 minutes

 

Answer any two of the following six questions @ 50% each.

 

1. The history of economic thought involves use of a number of historical and philosophical concepts including:

Absolutism vs. Relativism

Falsifiability

Historical vs. Rational Reconstruction

Paradigm

Define each, associate it with specific economists or schools of thought and briefly explain.

 

2. What was the nature and causes of the Marginalist Revolution?

 

3. Those who opposed the Marginalist Revolution did not use assumptions of scarcity and hedonism.  Alternative concepts included:

Empiricism

Teleology

Transcendence

Define each, associate it with specific economists or schools of thought and briefly explain.

 

4. What was the nature and causes of the Keynesian Revolution?

 

5.  In some cases those who opposed the Keynesian Revolution used the same analytic components as Keynes himself but with different assumptions.  These include:

Expectations

Money & the Interest Rate

Wages

Define each, associate it with specific economists or schools of thought and briefly explain.

 

6. Arguably, economics is in a ‘post-paradigm’ period with a proliferation of new sub-disciplines.  These include:

Behavioural Economics

Cultural Economics

Experimental Economics

The ‘New’ Geographic, Growth, Historical, Institutional & 'Science' Economics

Define each, associate it with specific economists and briefly explain.