THE SCIENCE OF ECONOMICS

THE SCIENCE OF ECONOMICS

George Mason University
Department of Economics

Dr. Thomas C. Rustici, PhD
Enterprise Hall Suite 322
(703) 993-1137 VOX (703) 993-1133 FAX
::trustici-at-gmu.edu

::George Mason University Department of Economics
::Georgetown University Department of Economics

Scholarship and Commentary by Thomas Rustici

::A Public Choice View of the Minimum Wage in Cato Journal

::Removing Individual Health Risk From Health Insurance? Incremental Regulation Versus Market Choices at Competitive Enterprise Institute

Other Scholarship

::Donald J. Boudreaux
::Peter Boettke
::Tyler Cowen
::Alex Tabarrok
::Walter Williams

Policy & Economics Links
Institutes and Foundations

::Ayn Rand Institute
::Cato Institute
::Center for the Advancement of Capitalism
::Center for Freedom and Prosperity
::Center for the Study of Public Choice

::Constitution Society
::Competitive Enterprise Institute
::
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
::Foundation for Economic Education
::Fund for American Studies
::Future of Freedom Foundation
::
Goldwater Institute
::Institute on Political Journalism
::Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science
::Iowa Electronic Markets

::James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy
::Library of Economics and Liberty
::The Locke Institute
::Mercatus Center
::
National Center For Public Policy Research
::Political Economy Research Center
::Public Choice Foundation

Punditry

::Capitalism Magazine
::Instapundit
::Marginal Revolution
::Rule of Reason
::Rush Limbaugh

::Sean Hannity
::Volokh Conspiracy

Online History

::Isaac DiIanni's Required Readings in Economics
 ::Rudy Rummels' Webpage

::Museum of Communism
::Economic History Services
::History of Economics Online
::McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought
::Test Your Knowledge of Communist History

The George Mason University

 

Economics is the science that studies the production of wealth under a system of division of labor. As an instructor at George Mason University and Georgetown University, I have introduced thousands of undergraduate students in economic principles in a way that has served them as they pursued further academic study and embarked upon their professional careers.

In 1999, I wrote the student guide that accompanies ABC News reporter John Stossel’s "Greed," "Freeloaders" and "Are We Scaring Ourselves to Death" videos. These "Stossel in the Classroom" guides are in almost 600 classrooms and have been read by more than 175,000 students.

In 2000, the George Mason student government named me "Professor of the Year" in economics and in 2004, the George Mason Broadside profiled my teaching philosophy (article reprinted here), saying that I give my students "a wealth of knowledge in a three hour course that would take other instructors 15 hours to communicate.”

Courses of Instruction:

Undergraduate:

Economics 103: Microeconomic Principles
This course is an introduction to microeconomics in the context of current problems. Students explore how the market mechanism allocates scarce resources among competing uses and use basic tools of supply, demand, production and distribution theory to analyze diverse problems.
::Syllabus ::Other course resources

Economics 104: Macroeconomic Principles
This course is an introduction to macroeconomics in the context of current problems. Students explore national income analysis, money and banking, economic growth and stability, unemployment, inflation, and the impact of government power in the economy.
::Syllabus ::Other course resources

Economics 309: Economics & Public Policy
This course is designed to familiarize students with the fundamental relationships between the individual citizen, government, business and society. Philosophy, political theory, economic theory and legal history are brought together to better understand public policy issues. The nature of the state, firm and markets are explored in a contractual context. Additionally, the effects of government regulation in a wide variety of market settings are highlighted though the course from a constitutional perspective.
::Syllabus ::Other course resources

Economics 310: Money and Banking
This course familiarizes students with the fundamentals of monetary and banking institutions. In particular, the course will focus on the economic dynamics (information and transactions costs) that have propelled the historical evolution of money, credit and financial intermediation from the ancient world to the present. Related financial institutions such as bond, stock, and insurance markets are also explored in detail as they relate to risk-management and modern portfolio theory. The course also highlights the structure of the Federal Reserve System, bank regulation and the mechanics of the international monetary framework. Finally, a wide variety of aspects relating to monetary policy are examined from an economic perspective. These topics include: the quantity theory of money, inflation, interest rates, "monetary rules vs discretion," the gold standard, free-banking, monetary theories of business cycles, deposit insurance, and electronic money (digital cyber-cash).
::Syllabus

Economics 390: International Economics
The lectures and readings in this course are designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of international economics.  The course will  emphasize the role of market institutions in the coordination of global economic activity. These institutions will include: the price mechanism, exchanges rates, comparative advantage, international investment, as well as formal international institutions such as United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.  We will also examine the foundation of international law, the evolution of the world monetary system and global environmental quality from a property rights perspective.  Also, various interventions into the global market mechanism such as tariffs, import quotas, voluntary restraint agreements, capital import-export controls are explored for their impact on the global production and trading system.  Finally, the role of the informal economy is examined in the context of world economic development.
::Syllabus

Law School:

Law 108: Economic Foundations of Legal Studies
This course is designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of microeconomic theory. The central focus this course takes is an understanding of the process of price formation in a free exchange economy. We rigorously examine the various legal rules and economic incentives that operate within the constitutional free enterprise system. Market institutions such as: the firm, advertising, profit-loss mechanism, futures speculation, and property rights are explored for their role in the coordination of economic activity. Finally these principles are applied to the larger issues of economic regulation, environmental quality, and the “political marketplace” of representative democracy.
::Syllabus ::Other course resources

 

Copyright © 2005-2008 Thomas C. Rustici. All Rights Reserved
Email: rustici-at-gmu.edu  
Last Updated: 07/31/2008