This course is a project- and writing-based introduction to "thinking like an economist." If you've ever thought, "there's a piece missing from my understanding of current events," learning about economics might be the thing that fills that gap! Students will study basic tools of economic analysis, and apply them beyond problem sets to local, national and international issues: the scarcity of taxi medallions, the economics of policing, the potential outcomes of rent control, the economic forces on local, Cambridge businesses. Students will develop a contextualized understanding of race and gender in economic history and patterns; money, credit and the role of financial institutions; government regulation; the relationship of money and speech; and other topics that arise from class interest. We will consider economic reasoning made by people as consumers, producers, savers, investors, workers, voters, and government agencies to examine society's allocation of scarce resources. The role of incentives, externalities, and supply and demand in managing scarcity will lead into a brief study of macroeconomics around trade, monetary policy, employment and inflation.

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