Policy and Economic Progress: Public Choice, Free Trade and Sovereign Debt

Policy and Economic Progress: Public Choice, Free Trade and Sovereign Debt. This final set of readings in The Clash of Economic Ideas presents an eclectic set of policy settings for evaluating the history of economic thought. The first chapter explores the emergence of Public Finance and Public Choice as separate fields of study within economics. You should recognize many of the basic concepts from your introductory economic classes. This chapter might also challenge some of the concepts you learned about the prevalence and impact of market failures in an economy. Additionally, this chapter spends a significant amount of time introducing the work of Ronald Coase (recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in economics) and exploes his impact on contemporary policy debates. The second chapter brings us back to a debate that was central to the writings of Adam Smith and his contemporaries--the role of free trade in society. Again, you will find the material to be generally familiar--with the exception of the introduction to a small new cast of characters. The final chapter broaches the topic of deficit spending and sovereign debt crises. As the time of my writing the introduction to this module, the Greek crisis is still undecided. However, by the time you read this chapter you might be able to add a little more context to the Greek debt crisis that is a central theme in the final chapter.