Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://hanson.gmu.edu)
Phone: Office 703-993-2326, Cell 703-201-8129.
Office Hours: Officially Tuesdays 10:30-11:45a, but I'm available at far more times; email or call.

Catalog Entry:

Economic problems in light of current and proposed public policies. Topics include environmental issues, international trade policies, and regulatory issues and their historical roots. Limited to three attempts. Recommended Prerequisite: ECON 100 or 103 and 104 or permission of instructor.

Assignments:

• Class Participation Please contribute to class discussions.
• Quizzes Three in-class quizzes will given. You are given 45min for each quiz. Quizzes are open book, open notes.
• Defended Opinions Three times you will write a defense of your opinions on a legal topic. The assigned topics will be unusual, in order to encourage you to think them through yourself, rather than looking up what others have said (or asking a large language model). Limit each essay to two pages. I grade on how many relevant economic arguments you make clear; we will discuss this more in class.
• Final Exam This includes both an additional quiz and an additional defended opinion.

1. Should we require a "Gap Decade", starting at earliest of 1st kid or age 22, ending at earliest of a decade or 3rd kid is age 4?
2. TBD
3. TBD

• Quizes: 7Sep,28Sep,26Oct
• Defended Opinions: 28Sep,26Oct,21Nov
• Final: Dec 7, 10:30am-1:15pm

Schedule

Week		Topic
22,24 Aug		Review of Econ, Humans
29,31 Aug		Paternalism, Talk
5,7 Sep		Insurance	Quiz Thursday
12,14 Sep		Food
19,21 Sep		Fertility	No Class Thursday
26,28 Sep		Medicine	Quiz, Paper Due Thursday
3,5 Oct		School, Jobs
10,12 Oct		Land	No class Tues.
17,19 Oct			No class This Week
24,26 Oct		Finance	Quiz, Paper Thursday.
31Oct, 1Nov		Law
7,9 Nov		Discrimination
14,16 Nov		Emergencies	No Class Thursday
21,23 Nov		Innovation	No class Thursday, Paper Due Tuesday
28,30 Nov		World, Systems
7 Dec		Final Exam

Readings

This one text is required: The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life.

All other readings are free online at http://hanson.gmu.edu/EC309readings.html