[Econfon] Readings & First class

[Noemi Giszpenc]

Hi there,
and welcome to EconFon!
(Economics for Friends of Noemi, of Econ for Fon.)

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I have a webpage for the class: http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/econfon

There's nothing of much use there right now, but come back to it for all 
class handouts, assignments, and so on.

Here is what I would like you to ***read before*** the first class, which 
will be Tuesday, February 10, at 7 pm, in an MIT classroom To be Determined.

First, please go to the hypermedia text Principles of Economics, at
http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/top/prin/txt/EcoToC.html (the link is 
also on the class website if you lose it).
Scroll to the bottom of the table of contents page and read the two guides 
to the text. One gives a historical overview of the main questions in 
economics since Adam Smith, the other lists the 10 main principles of 
economics. Both guides are short and readable, and give a very good overview 
of the standard stuff that economics deals with.

If you like, on that page you can also read his "Reasonable Dialog of 
Economics" (number 1 in the table of contents).  I don't like the way he 
chooses to spell the word dialogue, but it's a decent introduction to a very 
middle-of-the-road approach to studying economics.

The other thing I would like you to read is a passage from Les Miserables by 
Victor Hugo (available from project Gutenberg). I've created a Word 
document, available on the class webpage. Look in the upper right-hand 
corner for the link Reading: Victor Hugo. It's barely 2 pages long, don't 
worry. In it he lays out two economic problems: production and distribution, 
and the interaction between these two in different economic modes. His 
challenge to us: find a way to do both well!

Finally, if you still have a few minutes, go read Donella Meadows's article 
"Left and Right and Power." It's at http://www.pcdf.org/meadows/power.htm. 
It gives a very good description of my basic political approach, which I 
think you ought to know about if you're going to be taking a course from me 
in a controversial subject such as economics. Although this course *will* 
stick to the basics, I *will* also be giving it my own coloring, because you 
have to be selective in what you look at and selectivity is inherently 
biased. No one can teach an unbiased economics course; I'm just trying to be 
as straightforward about my biases as possible.

OK, that's it! The syllabus will be available soon, as will the class 
location; I apologize for the delays... and I look forward to seeing you all 
soon!

Noemi

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