Cooperation, Coordination, Collective Action

Catalog description

As social animals, cooperation has been vital to human beings’ success. Yet in contexts as mundane as cleaning or impactful as climate change, people often fail to work together, even for mutual benefit. Using game theory as a launching point, with detours in neuroeconomics, behavioral economics, political economy, and elsewhere, this course considers the challenge of motivating collective action at different scales, from cooperation in small societies, to mass action undertaken by strangers united by a common cause. Ultimately, this course is designed to help students spark collective action when they feel it is needed by providing a suitable framework for analysis and an environment to discuss and refine ideas, eventually resulting in a final project. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. Fulfillment: Econ elective; Social Science Focus Political Economy 200 level.