Economics and Society

Catalog description

Our society faces several challenges. Climate change, inequality, social justice, AI and technology are among some of the big ones. In this class, we show how economics or the science of incentives can be used to tackle these challenges. We will talk about the tools needed to approach any challenge and talk about unintended consequences of policies that might seem like they should work. We describe the limits and benefits of markets and use these foundations to talk about the main challenges facing our society and how to address them. Prerequisites: 21-120 or 21-111