New Course in Economics Explores Capitalism
The course is the first developed as part of a new BB&T Center for the Study of Free Markets and Institutions being created at the college with support of a $2 million gift commitment from the BB&T Charitable Foundation.
Students can expect to get to the heart of the matter on day one, said Craig Newmark, associate professor of economics and instructor for the course.
â��On the first day, I’ll tell the students about two fundamental issues confronting society,â�� he said. Those are:
- How much should we focus on individual rights and responsibilities versus how much should we focus on the entire group?
- How much should we focus on “stuff” – material goods and services – versus less tangible, “spiritual” things: beauty, harmony with Nature, happiness?
â��There is no right or wrong answer to each of those questions,â�� Newmark said, â��but I’ll argue that if you prefer to focus on the individual, and if you like lots of â��stuff,â�� then capitalism is the best economic system.â��
Other topics to be covered in the course include:
- The value in capitalistic markets and market prices, including the effective transmission of information, desirable incentives and opportunities offered to individuals to prosper.
- The most common attacks on capitalism and defenses against them.
- Potential problems of the primary alternative to capitalism: government regulation and control of economic activity.
- A look at empirical research evaluating the performance of capitalism.
Students will also get a review of some of the basics of economics, including how markets create value, mutual gains from trade and property rights. As time permits, Newmark also will include a discussion of direct real world implications in such areas as food and product safety, antitrust cases, globalization and Social Security.
