Welcome to Understanding Economics!In this course, we won't expect you to take the word of experts for anything that your own logic cannot confirm.So much of what we "know" about the world is really the pronouncements of "specialists" that we accept on blind faith. Do we really KNOW that the earth is round, that men have walked on the moon, that nothing can travel faster than light, or that there's always a trade-off between inflation and unemployment?
We don't. But we accept them. What choice do we have? Life is chaotic enough. Political economy is different from such sciences as physics, biology or astronomy. Its principles affect every single one of us, every day of our lives. Political economy asks the questions we all ask, such as:
We will not ask you to accept anything unless you can clearly see the proof. We are simply going to help you look at everyday situations from a different perspective — sometimes more narrowly, sometimes more broadly — as a context for thinking about social problems. Here's an example. We go out to look at houses. We find out that houses in certain school districts are worth more; houses near Interstate highways are worth more; houses with a view of the ocean are worth more. But is the house really worth more? Are the boards and mortar, nails and shingles worth more because they're near the ocean? That question isn't hard to answer: when we check building-supply prices, we find them to be just about the same in each location. What accounts for the difference in price? It would have to be the land under the house, would it not? Nothing mysterious or difficult about that! And so it goes in the study of political economy. It's all about helping you to see what you already know. We call this course "Understanding Economics," because that's what we intend to give you. We won't teach you secret handshakes or advanced mathematics. We'll define our terms and hold consistently to those definitions throughout, and we'll not ask you to do anything tougher than reasoning clearly from point A to point B. Take a Tour of the Courseat this site map and investigate the readings and lessons. Once you have enrolled in the course, you may go right ahead and send us the answers to the first ten questions, using the form provided. (If you wish, you can save plain text versions of each lesson, and work on your own word processor.) Your answers will be e-mailed to an instructor, who will evaluate them and respond to your questions.Our course is tuition-freebut we do charge a small fee for materials and server space: twenty bucks. Why so cheap? Because we want to make this course available to as many people as we can! At the Henry George Institute, our goal is a broader understanding of the principles that lie at the root of our social and economic problems. You may choose to read the course yourself, and you are welcome to do so, at no cost whatsoever. Your $20 enrollment fee entitles you to feedback from a qualified instructor, and a certificate upon satisfactory completion of the course. NOTE! Because of annoying, destructive spammers, we've had to password-protect the forms on which students can submit their lessons. When you enroll, we'll send you a password.You CAN Understand Economics!Sign up online! (Click on a button to add to your "shopping cart" -- using PayPal's secure server. You can remove them later if you wish.)
| |||||||||||||||||
Would you rather use a printed version of the text and
lessons for this course? They aren't required -- but they are available!
We will send you the Progress and Poverty abridged text for $10.00, and the
Understanding Economics study guide for $8.00 ($18 for both) Note: Outside the United States or Canada, please add $5 for postage, for each printed item. If you don't want to order online, you may send your payment to: