ECON 151 Path Dependence in Private Action and Public Policy: Decision Making in the Shadow of History

NOT OFFERED THIS YEAR.  (Same as PUBLPOL 130.) The historically contingent development of economic, social, and political behaviors at micro and macro levels. History's role in individual and organizational decision making. When can extraneous events have persisting effects upon public institutions, private organizations, and government agencies? Science and technology policy making; precedent-based judicial and administrative proceedings; and institutional reforms and regulatory initiatives illustrate positive feedback dynamics; self-organization and emergent properties in complex systems; conditions of lock-in to and escapes from suboptimal equilibria in economic and social arrangements. Recommended: ECON 51.

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