Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 2.5 hours / session
Course Description
This course is designed for students particularly concerned with the practical problems of operating in large formal organizations, either from an operational or a research perspective. It will focus, as the title suggests, upon different forms of economic organizations and institutions in advanced industrial societies and the theories (and theoretical perspectives) which might help us to understand them. But it is not meant to be strictly limited either to economic organizations and institutions in advanced societies and emerging economies. Indeed, what defines economic, as opposed to other, organizations and institutions, as well as the defining characteristics of advanced industrial societies and successful latecomer economies, and whether a special theory is required to understand them are questions with which the course will be centrally concerned.
In general, students are encouraged to think critically about the material in the light of their own concerns and to evaluate the strength and weaknesses of the perspectives explored in the course as they are used to examine issues which extend beyond the context in which they were initially developed.
Grading
Students’ grades will be based on three contributions:
- Class participation.
- Projects to be presented in class based on leads from readings.
- A 24-hour take-home final exam (to be given out the final day of class).
