PHIL7125: Future of the Information Economy

Spring 2026

Course Overview

Course description to be added.

Course Schedule (Spring 2026)

January 19

Introduction: Keynes was wrong. Why? Does it matter?

Required Reading

Keynes - Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren

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Freeman - Why Do We Work More Than Keynes Expected?

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Pecchi & Piga - Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren: A Twenty-first Century Perspective

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Recommended Reading / Other Resources

Solow - Whose Grandchildren?

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Friedman - Economic Well-being in a Historical Context

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Georgieva (IMF) speech on Keynes' essay

Video Transcript

January 26

Must we (want to) work? Should we?

Required Reading

Cholbi - The Duty to Work

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Cholbi - The Desire For Work As An Adaptive Preference

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Elster - Is There Or Should There Be a Right to Work

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Recommended Reading / Other Resources

Appiah - The Philosophy of Work

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Furendal - The Future of the Philosophy of Work

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Graeber - Bullshit Jobs (Chapter 1)

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February 2

More money, more problems?

Required Reading

Parr - In Cash We Trust

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Heath - Why a UBI Will Never Be High Enough

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Jauch - The Welfare Argument for Free Time Protection

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Recommended Reading / Other Resources

Piper - Giving People Money Helped Less Than I Thought it Would

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The Unconditional Cash Study

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Freakonomics - Is The World Ready for a UBI?

Podcast / Transcript

HK Gov Economist - An Overview of Universal Basic Income from an International Perspective

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February 9

Tyler Re Visit

Required Reading

TBD

February 16 NO CLASS (Lunar New Year)

February 23 NO CLASS (Lunar New Year)

March 2

Midterm Exam

March 9 NO CLASS (Reading Week)

March 16 NO CLASS (General Holiday)

March 23

Daniel Singer Visit

Required Reading

Muldoon - Diversity and the Division of Cognitive Labor

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Dagostino - From the Organization to the Division of Cognitive Labor

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Recommended Reading / Other Resources

Hong and Page - Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers

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Dellsen - Disagreement and Consensus in Science

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Dellsen Linnebo - What to Do When Experts Disagree

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March 30

AI & the future of work

Required Reading

Sharadin - AI & Cognitive Work - Chapter 1: Cognitive Work

Sharadin - AI & Cognitive Work - Chapter 2: Status Quo, Displacement, and Assistance

Recommended Reading / Other Resources

Autor - Why Are There Still So Many Jobs?

Paper TedX Talk

April 6 NO CLASS (General Holiday)

April 13

Kate Vredenburgh visit

Required Reading

TBD

April 20

Political economic possibilities (and associated problems...)

Required Reading

Dagger - Neorepublicanism and the civic economy

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Brixel - The Difficulty of Making Good Work Available to All

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One more article TBD

Recommended Reading / Other Resources

TBD

April 27

Final Exam

Assessments

Assessment TBD

Assessment details to be added.