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  • Writing and Critical Thinking
  • The Philosophy of Economic Markets, Money and Property

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Become a Summer Trojan and earn college credit.

Get ready to think about money, markets and how they play into some of the most interesting philosophical questions of our time. Students in this course will explore what principles should guide our decisions in complex, interdependent systems like markets. We will investigate this question from several angles, combining formal tools routinely employed by economists with philosophical analysis.

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In the first part of the course, students will gain proficiency in the frameworks of decision theory and game theory.

Both these frameworks are extremely useful for thinking rigorously about a wide class of market interactions, including investment decisions, policy design, labor contract negotiations and more.

In the second part of the course, we will take a step back and think carefully about big picture philosophical questions at the intersection of economics and ethics.

Three girls with their backs to the camera look at a gold-framed painting hanging on a dark wall at The Getty.

Topics of Study

  • Philosophy
  • Economics
  • Logic
  • Law
  • Decision theory
  • Wealth and money
  • Contracts
  • Lending practices
  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Distributive justice

Learning Highlights

  • Analyze real-world problems through the lenses of decision theory and game theory
  • Critically articulate your opinions on the ethical issues that we encounter in our daily market interactions
  • Solve simple mathematical problems in decision and game theory
  • Give effective presentations summarizing the main claims and arguments of contemporary philosophical essays
  • Write clear, concise and persuasive argumentative essays approaching college-level quality

Requirements

  • Students must bring their own laptops
WeekFocusKey TopicsAssignments and Activities
1Decision TheoryDecision matrices, dominance reasoning, probability, expected utility maximization, lotteries, Newcomb’s problem, unbounded valuePlay cooperative and competitive games based on course content with your classmates, including competitive Newcomb problem-based game and St. Petersburg lottery.
2Game TheoryTaxonomies of games, Equilibria, Prisoner’s Dilemmas and Stag Hunts, the rationality of cooperation, the evolution of the social contractExtra credit games including prisoner dilemmas, stag hunts, chicken, bargaining games and more. Field trip to the Getty Center.
3Foundations and Applications IDistributive justice, contractualism, freedom, property rights, democracyIn-class contractualism social experiment: design your ideal society behind the veil of ignorance. Debate your classmates on course topics.
4Foundations and Applications II
Preferences and wellbeing, collective action problems, limits of marketsIn-class social experiments illustrating collective action problems. Debate your classmates on course topics. Field trip.

The most valuable aspect of this course is that it encourages discussion and invites different opinions from different perspectives.

— USC Summer Programs student participant
USC Summer Program Ethics in the 21st Century: Business, Politics & Technology
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