The Role of the State in Society from an Institutional Perspective

Juan Avello and Sebatián Muena
Exploring Economics, 2021
Poziom: zaawansowane
Perspektywy: Ekonomia instytucjonalna, Ekonomia neoklasyczna, Inne
Temat: institutions
Formularz: Syllabus

Exploring Economics for Teachers

 Exploring Economics collects course descriptions, syllabi and slides so that lecturers can share ressources and innovate their teaching.

Share your Syllabus            Find more Teaching Material

 

The Role of the State in Society from an Institutional Perspective

This syllabus was originally taught at Universidad de Chile

Fall Term 2020
Instructor: Alyssa Schneebaum
Juan Avello and Sebatián Muena
Instructors email address: smuena@fen.uchile.cl ; juanchi.avello@gmail.com

Course Summary

The course seeks to analyze the conformation of the modern State, its historical evolution, analysis perspectives, some efficiency dilemmas in State intervention in the market, private solutions to public problems and phenomena of participation and manifestation of popular will.

This course aims to carry out an analysis of the role of the State in society, from an institutional perspective. By exploring the States conformation, its history, the discussion around its role and efficiency and the popular will participation. The course employs a 60% theoretical and 40% practical methodology, privileging tools of participation and group deliberation so that students not only learn but also understand, question and internalize these contradictions and the different perspectives and visions of authors regarding the subject.

The structure is suited for the students to understand critically and apply the concepts described by the authors to the problems surrounding the State institution, consisting in one presentation session, four concept lecture and discussion sessions, a practical constitutional convention simulation session and the handing of an essay. The learning aim is for students to internalize and manage the general concepts and problematics related to the State, the social rights, the popular will, the property right, and the market and to be able to use them in the analysis of their social environment.

Building Block 8: Theories of Economics

Following the approach by Economy Studies, we categorize our Syllabi acoording to 9 different bulding blocks.

  

You can find more Syllabi on Building Block 8 "Theories of Economics" here

Learn more about the Building Blocks here

 

Course Overview

Session 1: Is the State necessary?

We start the first session describing the course, its teaching and evaluating methodologies, and its mandatory bibliography and supplementary texts. Then, there is a space for both the teacher and the students to introduce themselves. The latter ones will also talk briefly about the questions: ¿Is the state necessary? And ¿why? After everybody has shared their thoughts, the class will create a word cloud (with Menti or another app) suggesting the three most relevant concepts mentioned by its classmates. The results will be then discussed until the session is over, in order to have a general diagnostic of the expectations and interests that students may have, which will orientate the following sessions.

  • Larraín, G. (2019), The Constitution of Economic System (mimeo). Chapter 2. This book is in the process of being published.
  • Atria, Fernando; Larrain, Guillermo; Benavente, José Miguel; Couso, Javier y Alfredo Joignant (2013), The Other Model. From the neoliberal order to the public regime, Editorial Debate (Tercera Parte) 125-157.

 

Session 2: Role of the State and the social contract.

This session objective is to analyse the historical progress, until the present day, the State’s role and the social contract’s role (focussing on the undermining of the social contract) expressed in the Constitution. This aims to position the main ideas that led to the establishment of a republican state with its distinctive features in the western world. Also, we will analyse some distinct notions about the role that the State should take in society, its relative size and power to interfere in different markets, looking as well to the utilitarianism and contractualism perspectives in those issues.

  • Glaeser, Edward, L. and Andrei Shleifer (2003). "The rise of the regulatory state". Economic Literature Magazine, 41 (2).
  • Chibbek, Vivek. (2005). “Reviving the Developmental State? The Myth of the “National Bourgeoisie“”.  Socialist Register 2005: The Empire Reloaded. Vol. 41.

 

Session 3: Property rights discussion.

This session is composed of two parts: The first one’s objective is to provide definitions, explore challenges and recognize problems surrounding the property rights (studying its current critics) and the economic nature of the goods (defining a criterion of categorization and addressing its specificities). The last part aims to come to an understanding of some types of goods, analysing them from the perspective of the property right of the person that produces it.
  • Atria, Fernando; Larrain, Guillermo; Benavente, José Miguel; Couso, Javier y Alfredo Joignant (2013), The Other Model. From the neoliberal order to the public regime, Editorial Debate (Tercera Parte) 158-170.

 

Session 4: Social rights discussion.

The fourth session aims to talk about social rights, focussing on its production, use, enjoyment and gain, by analysing cases, discussing issues related to those social rights and, specially, tackling contemporary problems: (1) Own definition of social rights. (2) Struggle between surplus and social rights. (3) Private or State providing of social rights. Y (4) analysing and discussing cases.
  • Atkinson, Anthony B, (2001), The Economic Consequences of Rolling Back the Welfare State, Munich Lectures in Economics, MIT Press (chap. 1.2)
  • Tirole, Jean (2016), Economics for the Common Good, Princeton University Press (ch. 2, The moral limits of markets).

 

Session 5: The case of Chile.

This session aims to study the specific case of Chile, a country disrupted by the social riots and the pandemic, which finds itself in historical voting to decide if the national constitution will be changed by elected constitutional representatives. We will analyse the national context, the events occurred since 2019, and the main challenges that Chilean society needs to tackle. Finally, we will discuss the main motives of the social outbreak and propose and contrast some possible solutions to the social issues that caused it.
  • Larraín, G. (2019), La estabilidad del contrato social. Caps. 6 y 7.

 

Session 6: Constitutional conventions simulation.

The constitutional convention simulation will have students tackle three fundamental subjects: Government regime (presidential, parliamentary or mixed); Regional autonomy (centralized versus decentralized government); And civic methods of participation. In this instance, students will have a case with given information from which they will have to reach an agreement (or otherwise vote) to settle about the constitutional convention text (using an adaptation of the rules of an actual constitutional convention, this means that if ten people constitute the convention only seven are needed to agree to approve the document). Moderators will circulate between the discussion groups watching over the correct development of the exercise.

 

Session 7: Final essay.

The final essay is where the students use the analytical and theoretical tools learned throughout the sessions to explore and comprehend a subject of their interest to propose a solution to an issue of institutional nature. The main point of this assignment is for students to be able to extrapolate the knowledge and questionings gathered in this course applying them in a case of their own communities and doing the theoretical exercise of proposing, arguing and defending an idea that aims to give a solution to that institutional issue. This essay will have evaluation guidelines and a guiding brief to orientate the expected results. Finally, a course summary will be written, containing its application and main challenges, as a formal product of these sessions.

 

 Further suggested readings

  • De Grauwe, Paul (2017), The limits of the market. The pendulum between government and the market, Oxford University Press (ch. 3: External limits of capitalism, ch. 4: Internal limits of capitalism, ch. 7: External limits of governments and ch. 8: Internal limits of governments)
  • Glaeser, Edward (1998), "Non-profit entrepreneurs", Journal of Public Economics, 81, 2001.
  • Gopel, Maja (2016), “The Great Mindshift - How a New Economic Paradigm and Sustainability Transformations go Hand in Hand”, The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, Volume 2, 2016.
  • Harmon, Derek (2018), “When the Fed Speaks: Arguments, Emotions, and the Microfoundations of Institutions”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 1–34.
  • Hogdson, Geoffrey (2004), “Reclaiming habit for institutional economics”, Journal of Economic Psychology 25, 2004.
  • Koning, Eduard (2016), “The three institutionalisms and institutional dynamics: understanding endogenous and exogenous change”, Journal of Public Policy (2016), 36:4, 639–664
  • Posner, Eric and Weyl, Glen (2018). “Radical Markets: Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society”. Princeton University Press.
  • Suckert, Lisa (2017), “Unravelling ambivalence: A field-theoretical approach to moralised markets”, Current Sociology 1–22
  • Vanberg, Viktor (2005), “Market and State: The perspective of Constitutional Political Economy”, Journal of Institutional Economics, No. 04/10.

Assignments and Assessment

The final grade is composed of four different evaluations; one of class participation, another is the result of a quiz, the third is related to the discussion in a constitutional convention simulation and the last one considers a final individual essay.

In the quiz, students are expected to think about the sessions, its concepts, and problematizations. The items of the quiz will ask open questions concerning the previous sessions and what the authors propose in their texts to give the students a time to reflect on what they have learned.

The constitutional convention simulation will have students tackle three fundamental subjects: Government regime (presidential, parliamentary or mixed); Regional autonomy (centralized versus decentralized government); And civic methods of participation. In this instance, students will have a case with given information from which they will have to reach an agreement (or otherwise vote) to settle about the constitutional convention text (using an adaptation of the rules of an actual constitutional convention, this means that if ten people constitute the convention only seven are needed to agree to approve the document). Moderators will circulate between the discussion groups watching over the correct development of the exercise.

The final essay is where the students use the analytical and theoretical tools learned throughout the sessions to explore and comprehend a subject of their interest to propose a solution to an issue of institutional nature. The main point of this assignment is for students to be able to extrapolate the knowledge and questionings gathered in this course applying them in a case of their own communities and doing the theoretical exercise of proposing, arguing and defending an idea that aims to give a solution to that institutional issue. This essay will have evaluation guidelines and a guiding brief to orientate the expected results.

 

 Stay tuned!

Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about new debates, conferences and writing workshops.

Subscribe!

This material has been suggested and edited by:

Samuel Decker
Tags: economic policy | financial policy | fiscal policy | industrial policy | market-state relation | policy | state | state control | state intervention | teaching
Ziel dieser kritischen Einführung in die Volkswirtschaft ist es, auf knappem Raum unterschiedliche Sichtweisen auf wirtschaftliche Zusammenhänge darzulegen und damit die Basis für ein differenziertes Verständnis von Ökonomie und wirtschaftspolitischen Debatten zu liefern. In Zeiten einer integrierten Weltwirtschaft, rascher Veränderungen und internationaler Krisen liegt es nahe, Wirtschaft in ihrer internationalen Dimension in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen, anstatt wie gehabt meist nationale Ökonomien isoliert zu betrachten. Miteinander asymmetrisch verbundene Entwicklungen und Veränderungen in Nord und Süd, die auf globaler sowie zwischen nationaler und regionaler Ebene stattfinden, stellen somit einen zentralen Bezugspunkt dar. Daher der Titel des Buches: Ökonomie und internationale Entwicklung. 2020 Level: zaawansowane Eine kritische Einführung in die Ökonomie Johannes Jäger und Elisabeth Springler Exploring Economics This short video examining the concepts of rents and rent-seeking, and the high cost of orthodox liberal anticorruption policies. 2021 Level: początkujący Rent-Seeking, Corruption and Development Jezri Krinsky blobMetropolis Ce podcast présente l’incompatibilité entre notre modèle économique et l’exigence écologique. « Comment affronter sérieusement les désordres de la planète si l’on s’évertue à réanimer un modèle économique qui en est la cause » ? s’est exclamé Gaël Giraud (chef économiste de l’Agence Française de Développement). La question de l'équation entre les impératifs économiques de court terme (croissance, emploi) et les exigences planétaires de long terme (l'avenir de notre monde) semble toujours irrésolue. 2018 Level: początkujący Economie/écologie : l'impossible conjugaison? Gaël Giraud France Culture This is a new online course at bachelor level. It presents an introduction into macroeconomics with a specific focus on the euro area. The theoretical part provides a critical presentation of the two key macroeconomic models: the (neo)classical approach and the Keynesian approach. This allows a comparative analysis of important macroeconomic topics: unemployment inflation government debt and Modern Monetary Theory banks and financial crises. The policy-oriented part discusses the monetary policy of the ECB and the specific challenges for fiscal policy in the euro area. The course also presents other euro area specific topics: Optimum currency area, euro crises, Next Generation EU and Green New Deal. 2021 Level: zaawansowane European Macroeconomics Peter Bofinger Exploring Economics What influence do changes in tax policy or state decisions on expenditure have on economic growth? For decades, this question has been controversially debated. 2020 Level: zaawansowane What is the fiscal multiplier and why is it so controversial? Sebastian Gerchert Exploring Economics The blog post by Marc Lavoie contrasts what he perceives as the two main interpretations of the current inflationary tendencies (the 'excessive demand inflation' story and the 'profit inflation' story) and contrasts them with a third interpretation. This interpretation acknowledes rising profits but argues in favor of a different mechanism that centers on changes in the relative composition of costs. 2023 Level: zaawansowane Some controversies in the causes of the post-pandemic inflation Marc Lavoie Monetary Policy Institute Blog Auch wenn viele Ökonom_innen den Kritikpunkten zustimmen, wie die 2016 von dem Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik und der Universität Kassel erstellte Studie EconPLUS aufzeigt, ändert sich die Lehre nur sehr langsam. Deswegen entstand im Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik die Idee, selbst eine Online-Lehr- und Lernplattform zu pluraler Ökonomik zu erstellen. Diese Plattform Exploring Economics ging im Dezember 2016 online. Level: początkujący Exploring Economics – die Online-Lernplattform für plurale Ökonomik Andreas Dimmelmeier und Andrea Pürckhauer Forschungsinstitut für gesellschaftliche Weiterentwicklung (FGW) There was a time when the world still seemed a good – and above all simple – place for monetary authorities. Every few weeks, they had to decide whether, in view of the latest price developments, it would be better to raise the key interest rates by a quarter point … 2021 Level: początkujący On climate, jobs and financial stability: Towards a new mandate for central banks? Isabel Schnabel, Adam Tooze & Moritz Schularick Forum New Economy John Christensen from the Tax Justice Network addresses the Modern Monetary Theory idea that governments don't need tax revenues if they want to spend money. Doing so, he sums up the main points made by MMT proponents and their critics, and shows how MMT can be reconciled with another progressive economic narrative: "Modern Tax Theory". While MMT made valuable contributions to the policy debate on fiscal policy, it misrepresents the importance of taxation as a political matter and as a way to generate public revenues. This is where MMT steps in. 2019 Level: początkujący The Magic Money Tree: From Modern Monetary Theory to Modern Tax Theory John Christensen Tax Justice Network Can pluralism in economics be useful to tackle the fight against climate change? How can diversity in methods and ideas allow for a better understanding of the issue of the climate crisis? What solutions do different schools of thought offer to overcome the most pressing challenge of the 21st Century? Our Rethinker Henrika Meyer will give you some answers and give you a glimpse of the solutions pluralism offers to tackle the fight against climate change. 2020 Level: początkujący Clips on Climate: Complexity Economics Henrika Meyer Rethinking Economics The ecological crisis challenges the ways to understand the links between the environment, society, and the economy. To train students to be able to think critically about the issues associated with the crisis, it is important to take multiple perspectives into account. This lecture by Economy Studies can help students develop a familiarity with the different schools of thought and conceptions that exist within economics. 2022 Level: początkujący Perspectives on the Environment - Economy Studies   Economy Studies Der Text "Antifaschistische Ökonomik? Na, klar! Aber was heißt das?" greift die Debatte zur antifaschistischen Ökonomik auf, ordnet sie in bestehende Entwicklungen ein und benennt Entwicklungspotentiale für die Diskussion. 2024 Level: początkujący Antifaschistische Ökonomik? Na klar! Aber was heißt das? Fred Heussner Exploring Economics

Wesprzyj

Ten projekt został stworzony przez Sieć na rzecz Pluralistycznej Ekonomii (Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik e.V.).  Jest on zaangażowany w różnorodność i niezależność i jest zależny od darowizn od ludzi takich jak Ty. Regularne lub jednorazowe datki będą bardzo mile widziane.

 

Wesprzyj