Open Online Courses

In addition to the official courses offered by the Economics Department at UPenn, we host annual open online courses accessible to participants worldwide. These courses have been highly successful, and we plan to continue offering them for the foreseeable future.

 

 

The Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania offers an online course on the economic history of Latin America. The objective is to familiarize students with the most recent literature on the economic history of Latin America and its contemporary development. Despite recent gains in democracy and economic growth in the region, it still lags behind advanced economies in Europe and Asia. These traits are linked to a shared past: indigenous legacies, colonial extraction, slavery, economies based on commodities, political fragmentation, conflicts fueled by the cold war, and authoritarian regimes and rebellions against them. It is an interdisciplinary course that encompasses the most recent contributions in economics, economic history, political science, archeology, and other fields. There will be ten 90-minute classes (with a short break) and ten plenary talks by invited experts, spread over ten weeks.

 

www.pismlatamcourse.org

 

The Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania offers an online course that explores the historical evolution and philosophical underpinnings of markets as social institutions. It critically examines how economists, philosophers, sociologists, and social scientists in general have grappled with the concept of markets and the various criticisms that have been leveled against them. The objective is to provide students with a deep and critical understanding of the historical development, ethical dilemmas, efficiency considerations, fairness debates, and potential alternatives to market-based economic systems.

 

Markets and their Critics

 

Date TBA 

The Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania offers an online course that explores the foundational thinkers in economics, tracing the evolution of economic thought from medieval philosophy to influential theories of the 20th cen tury. The idea behind the selection of economists was to focus on individuals who are representative of key periods in the history of economic thought and whose work transcended the discipline, leaving a lasting impact on social sciences, political philosophy, and policymaking. The course not only delves into the major theories of these economists but also examines their intellectual biographies, emphasizing the historical, social, and political contexts in which their ideas emerged. The objective is for students to understand the thinkers’ contributions and how their theories influenced—and were influenced by—the world around them