Class Session

We meet today to develop some of the background material for the course.  A brief introduction to ancient and medieval Italy with emphasis on its geography, history, environment, and of course, economics.  We will also develop the first of two basic economic themes for the course: markets in antiquity.

Discussion Articles

Kranton, R., "Reciprocal Exchange: A Self-Sustaining System," The American Economic Review, 86 (September 1996), 830-851

North, D., “Markets and Other Allocation Systems in History: The Challenge of Karl Polanyi,” Journal of European Economic History, 6 (Winter 1977), 703-16

Offer, Avner, “Between the Gift and the Market: The Economy of Regard,” The Economic History Review, 50 (August 1997), 450-476

Polanyi, K., The Great Transformation, (1944)

Basic Economic Theory Readings

Students who have not taken ECON 101 or ECON 111, and all other students who feel the need for a refresher should review the following presentations:

Frank, Robert, “Thinking Like an Economist,” excerpt from Frank, R., and B. Bernanke, Principles of Microeconomics, (2005)

Introduction to the Economic Way of Thinking
Graphing Economic Variables
Production and Opportunity Cost
Introduction to Markets
Markets in Action