TEACHING USING EXTREME ECONOMIES

A number of teachers have approached me to ask about using Extreme Economies as a resource. Having taught economics myself I am happy to help. If the book tempted a new generation into studying economics I’d be very glad. I have set out below what I, and the book, can offer. Please share this page with collegues.

  • Free copies. Depending on my stock of complimentary copies from Pengiun I can usually send a couple of free books ahead of events. These are often used as student prizes.

  • Guest lecture. I can give a guest lecture focusing on a chapter of your choice. I usually speak for 30-40 mins and then take questions from students on the book, or on careers in economics.

  • Virtual book signing. I can offer signed books in the week following the event, direct from Penguin at a reduced educational rate. These can be posted before or after the event.

Please get in touch using talks@extremeeconomies.com if you would like to set up an event.

TOPICS

A summary of the book setting out the technical topics each chapter covers is set out below. If you have used the book in your teaching please let me know, as I would love to link to examples.

  • Aceh. GDP: where it came from, how it works, and how it doesn’t (assets versus income). Forms of capital: physical, financial, human. Responses to disasters.

  • Zaatari. The foundation of demand and supply. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as applied to economics. Financial repression and innovation. Informal currencies. Political economics (capitalism v communism) and the human need to supply, trade and exchange.

  • Lousiana. How money really works. Barter economies and their problems. Commodity currencies. Financial innovation - intentional and unintentional.

  • Darien. The problem with free markets. The environment and externalities. The tragedy of the commons. Elinor Ostrom. Taxes, quotas and subsidies (theory of the second best).

  • Kinshasa. The causes and consequences of poverty. Colonial economics. Dictatorial economics. The costs of corruption.

  • Glasgow. The economies of cities. Agglomeration externalities and Alfred Marshall’s “Holy Trinity”. Social Capital. Robert Putnam and the importance of social capital to economic outcomes.

  • Akita. The economics of aging. The Modigliani life-cycle hypothesis. The looming costs of pensions and healthcare and intergenerational inequality. The two fundamental causes of ‘hyper aged’ societies. Comparing (a) longer lives with (b) smaller populations.

  • Tallinn. Technology and employment. The agricultural and industrial revolutions. The microprocessor revolution and Moore’s law. The risk of technological unemployment. The looming “Digital Divide” and why it matters.

  • Santiago. Neo-liberalism and economic inequality. Milton Friedman and the Chilean Experiment. The ‘Miracle of Chile’. The political economy of equality: outcomes versus opportunities. The failure of educational markets.