Lectures

Physiocrats: François Quesnay and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (18th century)

Lectures:

1. The Physiocrats and the first systemic picture of the economy
2. Land, nature and the source of wealth
3. The productive class in the agrarian model
4. Quesnay’s “Economic Table”
5. Free trade and laissez-faire
6. Turgot, reforms and the limits of the state
7. Taxes, property and the agrarian order
8. Why the Physiocrats saw movement but did not see personality
9. The economy does not begin with land
10. From land to personality through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Adam Smith (18th century)

Lectures:

1. Smith and the birth of classical political economy
2. Division of labor and productivity growth
3. Personal interest as the engine of exchange
4. The “invisible hand” and market order
5. The wealth of nations and the source of development
6. Labor, value and exchange
7. Smith’s moral philosophy and human behavior
8. The strong side of Smith
9. Why the market is not the beginning of the economy
10. Smith before personality through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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David Ricardo (late 18th, early 19th century)

Lectures:

1. Ricardo and the logic of distribution
2. The labor theory of value
3. Land rent
4. Profit and wages
5. Comparative advantage
6. International trade
7. Class conflict in the Ricardian model
8. The strong side of Ricardo
9. Why distribution does not explain the beginning of demand
10. Ricardo and the chain “Personality → Behavior → Choice → Demand → Money”

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Thomas Malthus (late 18th, 19th century)

Lectures:

1. Malthus and the problem of population
2. Population and resources
3. Poverty as a consequence of limits
4. Population growth and pressure on the economy
5. Malthus against belief in endless progress
6. Demography, consumption and demand
7. Fear of the future in the Malthusian model
8. Where Malthus was right
9. Why population does not explain personality
10. From demography to behavior through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Jean-Baptiste Say (late 18th, 19th century)

Lectures:

1. Say and the economy of supply
2. Say’s Law
3. Production as the center of the economic model
4. The entrepreneur in Say’s model
5. Market and self-regulation
6. Supply and demand
7. Crises of overproduction
8. The strong side of Say
9. Why supply does not automatically create demand
10. Demand before supply through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Friedrich List (19th century)

Lectures:

1. List and national political economy
2. The economy of a country instead of an abstract market
3. The productive powers of the nation
4. Industrial development
5. Protectionism and customs protection
6. The state as an instrument of development
7. List against the universal free market
8. The strong side of the national model
9. Why the nation does not replace personality
10. The state after social behavior through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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John Stuart Mill (19th century)

Lectures:

1. Mill between classical and social economics
2. Production and distribution
3. Freedom of personality and the economy
4. The market and public benefit
5. The state in Mill’s model
6. Property and social justice
7. The limits of laissez-faire
8. Why Mill is closer to personality than the classics before him
9. Where Mill remains inside old political economy
10. Freedom as a condition of choice through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Marx and Engels (19th century)

Lectures:

1. Marx and Engels in the history of political economy
2. The materialist conception of history
3. Class and class struggle
4. Labor and exploitation
5. Capital as power over labor
6. Property and production
7. The state in the Marxist model
8. The strong side of Marxism
9. Why class must not replace personality
10. From class to personality through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Marx’s “Capital” (19th century)

Lectures:

1. The commodity as the beginning of Marx’s analysis
2. Use value and exchange value
3. The labor theory of value
4. Labor power as a commodity
5. Surplus value
6. Money and the transformation of money into capital
7. Accumulation of capital
8. Exploitation and expanded reproduction
9. Why “Capital” does not begin from the beginning of the economic process
10. Personality before the commodity through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Carl Menger and the Austrian School (19th century)

Lectures:

1. Menger and the origin of the Austrian School
2. Subjective value
3. Marginal utility
4. Individual choice
5. The origin of money in Menger’s theory
6. Order without centralized control
7. The strong side of Menger
8. Why subjective value does not reveal the whole chain
9. Where choice remains without an explanation of personality
10. Menger through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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William Stanley Jevons (19th century)

Lectures:

1. Jevons and the marginalist revolution
2. Utility and marginal value
3. The mathematization of economic choice
4. The consumer as a calculating figure
5. Price and utility
6. Exchange in Jevons’s model
7. The strong side of the mathematical approach
8. The limitation of calculative economics
9. Why utility does not explain the origin of desire
10. Jevons and the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Léon Walras (19th century)

Lectures:

1. Walras and the theory of general equilibrium
2. Markets as an interconnected system
3. Equilibrium price
4. Walras’s auctioneer
5. Mathematical economics
6. General equilibrium and real behavior
7. The strong side of Walras
8. Why equilibrium does not show the beginning of the economy
9. Where the living personality disappears
10. Walras through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Alfred Marshall (late 19th, early 20th century)

Lectures:

1. Marshall and neoclassical economics
2. Demand and supply
3. Equilibrium price
4. Elasticity of demand
5. Consumer choice
6. Costs of production
7. The short period and the long period
8. The market as a mechanism of coordination
9. Why equilibrium does not explain the source of demand
10. Before demand there is choice through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Arthur Pigou (late 19th, 20th century)

Lectures:

1. Pigou and welfare economics
2. Public welfare
3. Externalities
4. Taxes and the correction of market failures
5. The state and public benefit
6. Inequality and welfare
7. The strong side of Pigou
8. The limitation of welfare economics
9. Why welfare cannot be calculated without personality
10. Pigou through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Institutionalists: Veblen, Commons and Mitchell (late 19th, 20th century)

Lectures:

1. Institutional economics
2. Veblen and conspicuous consumption
3. Social habits
4. Institutions as an economic force
5. Commons and collective action
6. Mitchell and economic cycles
7. Why institutions change behavior
8. The strong side of institutionalism
9. Where institutionalism does not reach the first point
10. Institutions after personality through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Joseph Schumpeter (20th century)

Lectures:

1. Schumpeter and the entrepreneur
2. Innovation as the engine of the economy
3. Creative destruction
4. Capitalism as a dynamic system
5. Banks, credit and development
6. The entrepreneur against routine
7. Monopolies and development
8. Crisis as part of renewal
9. Why innovation begins before capital
10. Personality as the source of new behavior through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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John Maynard Keynes (20th century)

Lectures:

1. Keynes and the crisis of classical economics
2. Aggregate demand
3. Unemployment and insufficient demand
4. State intervention
5. Investment and expectations
6. Money and uncertainty
7. Market psychology in Keynes
8. Why Keynes came close to behavior
9. Where Keynesianism stops before personality
10. Demand has a human beginning through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Friedrich Hayek (20th century)

Lectures:

1. Hayek and the Austrian School
2. The free market as order
3. Dispersed knowledge
4. Prices as signals
5. Spontaneous order
6. Hayek against planning
7. The state and freedom
8. The strong side of Hayek
9. Why spontaneous order does not fully explain personality
10. Freedom of choice and behavior through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Ludwig von Mises (20th century)

Lectures:

1. Mises and human action
2. Praxeology
3. The market and individual choice
4. Money and credit
5. Socialism and the calculation problem
6. The state and intervention
7. Freedom and entrepreneurship
8. The strong side of Mises
9. Where action does not reveal the whole structure of personality
10. Mises through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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Milton Friedman (20th century)

Lectures:

1. Friedman and monetarism
2. Money as the main instrument of analysis
3. Inflation
4. The role of the central bank
5. The free market and the state
6. Consumption and permanent income
7. Economic freedom
8. Friedman against Keynesianism
9. Why money cannot be the beginning of the economy
10. Money as the trace of demand through the Basic Law of Political Economy

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