CONTENT
1. Introduction: goals and methodology |
2. Crises and bubbles under Capitalism |
3. Counterculture through the ages |
4. Measuring economic performance and social progress |
5. Solving unemployment: the handshake approach |
6. The birth of cinema |
7. The next big change |
8. Einstein's mistakes |
9. The birth of cinema and the art of Charles Chaplin |
10. Explorers |
Relation between Activities and Contents
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| Online threads |
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| Class participation |
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| Final essay |
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Methodology
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a time and a space for humanistic growth and learning. A variety of subjects will be explained and discussed, both as a source of knowledge in themselves and, more importantly, as a springboard for another level of learning: a set of principles with which to navigate successfully through life's dilemmas and uncertainties.
Each session will be devoted to a specific topic or event of artistic, economic or historical importance. The focus of the lecture will be to explain the context, causes, consequences, artistic movement to which it belongs or economic theory that explains it. Next, moving from large to small and from to general to personal, we will open a discussion to try to extract, with everyone's insight, a lesson or a principle enlightening and useful enough for us to want to remember and include in our "life philosophy". The discussions will be enriched with the ideas obtained from a weekly reading assignment: a short story by some of Literature's best writers (Flaubert, Tolstoi, Twain, Dostoeivski¿).
Each student will be able to draw his or her own conclusions, but an essential part of the course will be the discussions to try to agree on a common list of principles that we consider useful for living a fulfilling life. Throughout these discussions the professor will enforce only one requirement: that all proposals are guided by a desire for self-improvement.
Bibliography
Basic bibliography:
. Akerlof G. and Shiller R., Animal Spirits, Princeton University Press, 2009
. Assa J., "Financialization and its Consequences?, Finance Reesearch, January 2012
. Barber B., Consumed, Norton & Company, 2007
. Bowles, Edwards and Roosevelt, Understanding Capitalism, Oxford University, 2005
. Boyd, Hu and Jagannathan, "The Stock Market's Reaction to Unemployment News?, Journal of Finance, April 2005
. Christensen, Marx and Stevenson, "The Tools of Cooperation and Change?, Harvard Business Review, October 2006
. Diamond J., Arms, Germs and Steel, Vintage Bools, 2006
. Goffman K., Counterculture Through the Ages, Villard Books, 2005
. Hausmann, Hidalgo et al., Atlas of Economic Complexity, http://atlas.media.mit.edu, 2011
. Johnson S., "The Quiet Coup?, The Atlantic, May 2009
. Keynes J.M., The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Harvest, 1936
. Macionis J., Sociology, Pearson, 13th edition, 2009
. Ohanian H.C, Eintein's Mistakes, Norton & Company, 2009
. Reich R., Supercapitalism, Vintage, 2008
. Roach S., "Global Rebalancing: the US-China Dimension, The Globalist, 2010
. Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr, September 2009
. Waldman S., The Information Needs of Communities, FCC, July 2011
