This course aims to introduce students to theories of economic change that are not based on equilibrium. It provides an introduction into heterodox perspectives on the economy, for example from the post-Keynesian and evolutionary economics schools of thought. This will provide students with an enriched understanding of the phenomena of business cycles, economic growth and income distribution.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) USED IN THIS COURSE IS WITH RESERVATION. A RE-EMERGENCE OF THE CORONAVIRUS AND NEW COUNTERMEASURES BY THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT MIGHT FORCE COORDINATORS TO CHANGE THE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT METHODS USED. THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEACHING/ASSESSMENT METHOD(S) WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE COURSE SYLLABUS.

Change is at the heart of how economies evolve. New products and sectors arise all the time by innovations introduced by consumers and producers, and we see alternating periods of growth and stagnation. The distribution of income constantly evolves, with recent trends in the direction of more inequality. In this course, we look at a number of theoretical frameworks, and their application, that take this change as the heart of their explanation of how the economy works. These perspectives are usually referred to as outside of the mainstream, or heterodox. We cover post-Keynesian theories of business cycles, growth, and distribution, and the theory of evolutionary economics. The topics that these perspectives are applied to are macroeconomics, growth theory, trade theory, and monetary economics.

Reader

Introductory knowledge about macroeconomics, for example as in EBC1018 (Macroeconomics)