TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT

A general characterization of the term paper assignment is to write a substantial essay (3,500 words or so) on a topic in philosophy and economics. Your intended audience should be other students in this course who are not especially familiar with the topic you choose. That is, you can assume that your audience generally knows as much about economics as you do, but not about your particular topic.

The paper should include a characterization of the main issue at stake, and then go on to examine (at least some part of) it critically. This would involve raising plausible objections to arguments, considering available rebuttals, and coming to some conclusion of your own.

Which topic you choose should depend entirely on your own interests. If you find yourself in doubt about the suitability of a potential topic, let’s talk about it.

One (but by no means the only, but a default) approach to this assignment would be to write a critical review of some work or works of philosophical and economic significance economics topics.

With some hesitation I mention as well some recent works any of which a critical review could be written appropriate for this assignment. (I hesitate because these are only—not quite randomly chosen—examples; many more no less appropriate could be found.):

World Poverty and Human Rights (Second Edition), by Thomas Pogge, Polity 2008.

Redesigning Distribution: Basic Income and Stakeholder Grants as Cornerstones for an Egalitarian Capitalism, by Bruce Ackerman, Anne Alstott, Philippe van Parijs , Verso 2006.

Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition, by Jeffrey A. Miron, Independent 2004.

Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts, by Michele Goodwin, Cambridge 2006.

The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home, by Dan Ariely, Harper 2010.

The Pursuit of Happiness: An Economy of Well-Being, by Carol Graham, Brookings, 2011.

Against Intellectual Monopoly, by Michele Boldrin and David Levine, Cambridge 2008.

This assignment is an opportunity for you to apply your growing economic sophistication to a topic area of particular concern to you. It will require you to read material beyond that required for the course, think systematically and carefully about it, and put your thoughts into words. It should be both challenging and rewarding.