ECON 3380 - Manias, Panics, and Crashes

The course will present the causes and consequences of financial crises in historical perspective, and in this context discuss alternative economic views on how markets work and the role of the government in stabilizing the economy. It will give a historic account of financial crises from the 1636 tulip mania to the crash of 2008, and introduce basic economic concepts including resource allocation, rationality, herd behavior, uncertainty, risk, speculation, market failure, and regulation.