Units of Study

ECOS3004 - History of Economic Thought

Semester 2, 2013  |  Credit Points: 6

Coordinator: Tony Aspromourgos


Where do the current beliefs - theories, doctrines, postulates and attitudes - of modern economics come from? If current theories and doctrines have a definite historical beginning, what schools of thought did they supplant? Are there alternative or dissident views which subsisted alongside mainstream economics in the twentieth century - and if so, what are they and where did they originate from? This unit seeks to answer these questions, as well as others. It provides an overview of the development of economic ideas from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, combined with a more intensive focus on the thought of certain key figures in that history. The particular topics covered include: the formation of economics to 1776; Adam Smith; classical economics from Smith to J.S. Mill; the rise of marginalist economics; John Maynard Keynes; and orthodox and heterodox currents in twentieth century economics.


essay (20%), mid-semester test (30%) and 70min final exam (50%)




1 of (ECOS2001 or ECON2001) or (ECOS2901 or ECON2901) or (ECOS2002 or ECON2002) or (ECOS2902 or ECON2902) or (ECOP2011 or ECOP2001) or (ECOP2012 or ECOP2002)


