PAPM 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nomisma, Capital Accumulation, Philia

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Public Affairs and Policy Management
• Course: PAPM 1000
• Professor: Marc Andre Gagnon

Document Summary

Veblen"s analysis of capital accumulation: rockefeller style wealth is not an accumulation of good for society it is accumulation of power to increase gains. For pharmaceuticals demand is prescriptions and doctors don"t care about cost so it"s an ideal market for capitalists--almost perfectly inelastic demand. Outline for this lecture: methodological debates in economic thought, aristotle. Economic thought evolves with society itself (time and place is relevant to theory) History of economic thought can be seen retrospectively (seeing which theories each philosopher added to create the truth , or what is in microeconomics textbooks). Contextual approach sees authors in their time/place. Talks about what problems the author was originally approaching, not so much their legacy. (ex. Adam smith arguing against mercantilism and colonial economics) Materialist approach looks at the motivation and interest of authors to propose/analyze why they are arguing what they are. In the aftermath, plato writes the republic and writes about his ideal state (abstract rationalism).