AEM 2810 - The Economics of Vice and Corruption

Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only (no audit).

Prerequisite: ECON 1110, First-Year Writing Seminar. Enrollment preference given to: Dyson students. Satisfies CALS written expression requirement and Dyson Grand Challenges writing requirement.

G. Blalock.

This writing course is designed to explore the important but largely undocumented role of vice and corruption in modern economies. A particular focus of the course will be learning how to identify activities, such as corruption and creating, that are designed to avoid detection. Techniques to uncover nefarious behavior are an important tool to understand the nature and extent of bad behavior and to prescribe policy treatment to minimize it. Students will write essays reflecting critically on weekly readings of recent literature on vice and deception.

Outcome 1: Students will have a well-developed capacity to evaluate evidence and the ability to express ideas coherently through writing.

Outcome 2: Students will be able to identify, access, and understand primary academic research from leading journals.

Outcome 3: Students will be able to illustrate how econometric tools can be used to identify the existence and scope of nefarious behavior that is intended to be hidden.

Outcome 4: Students will be able to distinguish policy prescriptions to minimize the extent of nefarious behavior.