The Crisis in the Financial Markets: Vivisection, Justice, Reforms

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The Crisis in the financial markets, which exploded in the fall of 2008, very nearly led to a global economic collapse. Arguably, elements of the Crisis endure; arguably, the specter of an encore crisis looms on the horizon. In the first portion of this course, we will perform a Vivisection of the Crisis--from the bubble in the markets for housing, to the bubble in the market for bonds and various exotic financial instruments (derivatives), and the actions of government institutions to prevent a collapse. In the second portion of the course, we will consider the issues of justice in a liberal democracy, guided by John Rawls, Justice as Fairness. Special attention will be focused on issues of economic justice: distributive justice generally, and taxation in particular. And we will investigate the threats to democracy posed by economic inequalities. The third portion of the course will be devoted to reforms: resolving problems discovered in the Vivisection through the application of principles of Justice.