Comparative Political Economy

This course provides a broad survey of some of the major debates in comparative political economy today, focusing especially on the creation, evolution and reform of market institutions. We begin by reading some of the classic works in political economy, including those of Smith, Marx, Polanyi, and Gerschenkron, and reviewing more recent work from institutional economics, economic sociology, and political science. We then proceed with a selective survey of literature on the political economy of Western Europe, Japan, the East Asian and Latin American NIEs, the developing countries, and the post-Communist economies.