The Great Books and Economics

Abstract

The author describes an introductory economics course in which all of the reading material is drawn from the Great Books of Western Civilization. He explains the rationale and mechanics of the course. An annotated course syllabus details how the reading material relates to the lecture material.

Key Words:

• Great Books
• introductory economics
• literature

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James E. Hartley

James E. Hartley is an associate professor of economics at Mount Holyoke College (e-mail: [email protected]). The author thanks William Becker, Hazel Meda, and several anonymous referees for helpful comments, and Lauren Munyan and Danielle Omasta for excellent research assistance.