Tuesday, May 16, 2017

FINAL EXAM NOTES / PS 4640

We have a mid-term Thursday morning in my International Political Economy class (PS 4640). Below are links to topics I have discussed on my blog, which tie directly into lectures I have given and, not coincidentally, are important for answering the questions that will be asked on the final exam. These are issues my students should be familiar with for Thursday's final exam. So, yeah, what's below is a list of ancillary "cliffs" notes for my class. To be sure, my regular readers (and those who have read my book) will understand the broader story. 

Of course, for those who are just interested in knowing about this stuff, you can begin by clicking on and reading the links below.

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EXAM-BLOG NOTES FOR PS 4640


Part I
History and Concepts from the First Two Mid-Terms

What makes the magic of the market work? A useful analogy from Disneyland's Aladdin. 

From War to Mercantilism: The historical role the Renaissance, Reformation, and the Enlightenment had in paving the intellectual path for Market Capitalism to arrive.

Waves of Imperialism ... War and Markets: Why Great Wealth is not a product of individual initiative alone. Here we learn about the three waves of imperialism, which were driven by successive but distinct eras of mercantilism after 1648, 1815, and 1919,

The Moral Justification of Capitalism is on the Ropes ... Here's Why. This is a review of the transformation from feudalism and mercantilism towards the modern liberal state.

Waves of Imperialism, II ... It's not free markets ... the state creates the conditions under which wealth is created (with an all too brief discussion-mention of John M. Keynes and Friedrich List).

Developing Afghanistan and Iraq ... It's mindless Modernization Theory, again.





Part II
Rise of the Symbolic Economy / Roots of Market Crash(es)


A flood of dollars, new competition, and a crumbling economic framework ... yet we do nothing, still (this one touches on the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system).

Why the American Dream is Disappearing: What's wrong with Detroit ... and America.

Decoupling of Productivity from Labor ... The Rise of the Machines, Part I.

Decoupling of Productivity from Labor ... The Rise of the Machines, Part II.

Converting Euro trash into European gold ... how the gods are smiling on Spanish and European banks, again.

A monkey throwing darts ... A flood of dollars has made investing and making money a lot easier than it should be, as the the graph below suggests. In fact, it's gotten so easy that a monkey throwing darts at stock choices, pasted on a wall, could make money in the market, as the story I recount here suggests. 

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- Mark

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