FTE online classes

You can’t afford to wait any longer to take advantage of the fastest growing opportunity in economics education!


Dear Colleague,

The FTE is pleased to announce its online course offerings for Fall 2009, including the new Economics of Disaster Online, offered for the first time. We are hoping that you'll be among the first to take advantage of these tremendous professional development courses. These courses provide teachers with:

* Economics curriculum, including lectures and accompanying activities
* Instruction by nationally-acclaimed instructors

One past participant proclaimed, "I would definitely take another online FTE course. . . . The curriculum and instruction in this online course was of the highest quality - rich, robust and interactive".

Course Offerings:
Economics Online for Teachers - Part 1 (EOFT 1)

* Dates: September 15 to November 30, 2009
* 2 Semester Hours of Graded Graduate Credit

Economics Online for Teachers - Part 2 (EOFT 2)

* Dates: September 15 to November 30, 2009
* 2 Semester Hours of Graduate Credi

Deadline to apply: September 4, 2009 for both EOFT 1 & EOFT 2. Applications will be accepted on a first come / first serve basis. Enroll today - programs fill quickly.

Note: Students in EOFT-1 may not be concurrently enrolled in either EOFT-2, CAPO or EoDO
Is Capitalism Good for the Poor? Online (CAPO)

* Dates: September 8 to December 8, 2009
* 3 Semester Hours of Graded Graduate Credits

Economics of Disasters Online (EoDO)

* Dates: September 8 to December 8, 2009
* 3 Semester Hours of Graded Graduate Credits

Deadline to apply: August 31, 2009 for both EoDO and CAPO. Applications will be accepted on a first come / first serve basis. Enroll today - programs fill quickly.

Note: Applicants must have successfully completed one of the other FTE Online courses as a prerequisite for EoDO and CAPO enrollments. Applicants with non-FTE online experience in graduate level courses may request an exception to this policy.

For more information and to apply, visit our website at www.fte.org/teachers/programs/online/

Please distribute this email to colleagues who may be interested in taking an Economics Online course.

If you have any questions, please call me at: 800-383-4335.

Sincerely,

Cecily Bailey, Online Program Manager



The Foundation for Teaching Economics takes your privacy seriously. Click here for our privacy policy.

Would you prefer to receive this email in plain text format? Let us know.

Would you like to opt-out of our email list? Let us know.

260 Russell Blvd. Suite B · Davis, CA 95616 · Phone: 530-757-4630 · Fax: 530-757-4636 · information@fte.org

Pigovian Taxes and Mankiw's Pigou Club

I am currently taking an FTE online class - The Economics of Disasters. This is a wonderful course and will be offered fall, 2009 and I recommend it highly.

In the course of an online discussion about responses to disasters a classmates mentioned Pigovian taxes as a least worst solution.

My reply:

If the world is constant externalities - that is every transaction impacts third parties in some way, then what would be the approach to considering a world of constant externalities?

The deadweight of government involvement is justified by those who have great confidence in their ability to determine social costs and benefits. This type of paternalism constitutes an incidious threat to liberty and to freedom of action, in my view.

That said, all government action in the form of tax creates a deadweight loss, taxes do not eliminate deadweight loss.

http://www.basiceconomics.info/tax-and-deadweight-loss.php

As you say, Mankiw would argue that the deadweight loss from the gas tax is justified, because the taxing authority knows the social costs and benefits. When I think about this, I wonder why I use Mankiw's text. Note to self - next semester move to The Economic Way of Thinking. Hayek and others were very skeptical that central authority can acquire and act on knowledge.

That said, as you indicate, it is indeed stimulating to explore these points of view. As I write this, I am trying to think of any tax at any time that moved society closer to socially efficient outcomes and . . .

The foundation of a free society is absolute protection of property rights. Surrendering that absolute right must be justified by significant and extraordinary potential gain.

From a source with an admitted skepticism toward taxation

CATO - the Pigovian Problem

http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv31n2/v31n2-5.pdf

and

CATO - Against the New Paternalism

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa563.pdf

Foundation for Teaching Economics - new course

The FTE has developed a new online course - Economics of Disasters to be piloted during the Spring, 2009 semester and offered for graduate credit during the Fall, 2009 semester.