Overview of Course

Every society develops systems for answering 3 fundamental economic questions: What should be produced? How should those outputs be produced? And who will get the outputs? While many societies increasingly rely on markets to answer those questions, government and informal cultural rules also have major impacts, and affect the resulting level of people’s well-being. This course is designed to introduce you to the subject of economics, as it pertains to the behavior of people, firms, and societies, and to their desires to get the most from limited means. Economics is a science about choice, not money. We use the three languages of economic discourse to illustrate our points of view:
words, graphs and (a little bit of) math.

In the context of the Fall 2025 SAS voyage, students will learn about and experience the differences in national economies through course material, student discussions and field trips. We will focus on how markets, the role of government and individual tastes and preferences promote economic growth and national well-being. We will explore and see first-hand, how economic policies, national income and investments in human capital affect access to markets, equitable distribution of goods and services and how these vary across the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.