Midterm Reminder

Just a reminder that our midterm is Wednesday, November 4th. It's worth 20% of your overall grade, and will cover everything we've discussed in class so far this semester. There will be a mix of multiple choice, short answers, and argument evaluations on the test, along with a mini-essay and an extra credit question.

Get to studying!

Utilitarianism

Here are some links that are loosely related to the stuff on utilitarianism that we're talking about in class.

• A neat little biography of know-it-all John Stuart Mill, one of the most famous utilitarians.
  
• An advanced encyclopedia article on utilitarianism and other theories that focus on consequences of an action.
• There's a lot of psychological research on happiness popping up lately. Here's one overview of positive psychology. And here's a second one.
• An insightful, accessible book on the psychology of happiness called Stumbling on Happiness.
  
• Recent studies suggest that our baseline level of happiness doesn't change much throughout our life. So, even if we won the lottery, we wouldn't wind up that much happier. This is potentially very depressing news, although some say there's room for some optimism, and others think the research is wrong.
  
• The trolley problem gets brought up a lot when evaluating utilitarianism. There's some new research on the psychology of the trolley problem.

So what makes you happy? Wawa? Ping pong? Doubletree Hotel Cookies?

Field Trip

UPDATE: New time! The movie starts at 3:20, not 3:30!

We're going on a class trip! On Monday, October 26th, we'll be seeing the 3:30 3:20 p.m. screening of Capitalism: A Love Story at the Regal Cross Keys Cinema 12 off the Black Horse Pike in Turnersville.

You do not have to attend the trip with the class. We will, however, be discussing the movie during class on Wednesday, October 28th, so I recommend trying to see it on your own if you can't make it with us.

An interactive map of the theater's location is below. Let me know if you need a ride there.


View Larger Map

Incorporate Responsibly

Here are some links related to our class discussions on corporate responsibility:

• A concise biography of Milton Friedman, from a free online economics encyclopedia. (How many free online encyclopedias do you think I know about?)
• Friedman played a big role in making libertarianism and laissez-faire economic policies seem cool again...
  
• ... although the current financial collapse might be killing libertarianism.

What's this current financial collapse all about, anyway? Here's a bunch of pretty good stuff on it:

• How did the subprime mortage crisis happen? The radio show This American Life gives a great explanation, and radio host Terry Gross asks Michael Greenberger to explain it.
• Why did the mortgage crisis lead to the collapse of huge financial companies? This American Life gives another great explanation. OK, Greenberger does, too.
  
• There's also this short play on the role that credit default swaps and netting (or hedging) played in the collapse of those huge financial companies.
  

So which members of a business are required to be socially responsible? Should we focus on the owners? The management? All employees? The following scene from Clerks suggests that Kevin Smith believes we should focus on all of them.

Consensus Groups

Here are the groups for our consensus sessions, along with the article you're assigned to present on and the date you're presenting:

Enron
-Group 1 on 11/09 (Coffee article - pages 256-263): Harrison P., Matt M., Nathaniel, Suzanne
-Group 2 on 11/11 (Duska article - pages 269-278): Chris B., Kentaro, Luke, Ryan

Wal-Mart
-Group 3 on 11/16 (Jason Furman side of the article - available here): Andrew, Christina, Laura, Samantha
-Group 4 on 11/18 (Barbara Ehrenreich side of the article - available here): Chris Donahue, Dave, Joe, Shawn

Marketing & Advertising
-Group 5 on 11/23 (Carson article - pages 337-348): Fred, Harrison H., Minjin, Renee
-Group 6 on 11/25 (Arrington article - pages 348-356): Chris DeCesero, Derek, Lauren, Rob

CEO Compensation
-Group 7 on 11/30 (Fisman handout - available here): Amanda, Bryan, James

The Current Financial Crisis
-Group 8 on 12/09 (Jeffrey Friedman article- available here): Aaron, Amber, Eddie, Kerri
-Group 9 on 12/07 (Robert Pollin article - available here): Gabe, Jim, Krzysztof, Matt K.

Capitalism Extra Credit

Here's an optional extra credit assignment:

Go watch the new Michael Moore documentary Capitalism: A Love Story and write a short (about one page) response to it. What did you think of the movie? Did you like any of Moore's arguments? Did you dislike any of them? Why or why not? Try to relate the movie to what we've discussed in class.

Unfettered Oppression Is More Like It

Here are some links related to our discussion of Karl Marx, his critique of capitalism, and communism.

• An advanced overview of the writings of Karl Marx, from one of those free online encyclopedias I keep talking about.
• Marx's complete writings are available for free online.
  
• What's the difference between communism and socialism?
  
• And for that matter, how about Marxism?
  
• University of Chicago's economics department is famous for supporting free market policies. Here's a critical profile of the department, along with the kind of plea for humility that I like.
• Did last year's financial collapse show that unregulated capitalism is crazy stupid?
• So does that mean we're all socialists now?
• Well, why not socialism?