Description
The objective of this course is to identify the theories, models, and concepts applicable to the economic analysis to social and political issues of the urban and regional environment. Central to this analysis is the apparent contradiction between the economist's concern about efficiency and the political concern about equity in the creation of public policy. This course reviews changes in how various social science disciplines have explained the economy over the last several hundred years, and then zeroes in on the sociological approach. That approach is sometimes complementary, sometimes supplementary, and sometimes contrary to the explanations offered by standard contemporary economics, depending on the particular subject. The fundamental premise is that a deep understanding of the economy requires attention to how social structure and institutions shape information flow, trust cooperation, norms, morality, power, and domination in economic action and interaction.