1. Economics of the media

Watch all videos in the Economics of the Media video course, record main points, send notes to instructor.

2. Economics of food and water

Watch videos from parts 3 and 4 of the Development Economics course, record main points, send to instructor.

3. Economics of corruption

Watch videos from parts 13 of the Development Economics course, record main points, send to instructor.

4. Economics of marriage and divorce

   Readings:

• Marriage  &  Intermarriage -Pew research
• The economics of marriage – world finance
• Tim Harford, The economics of marriage – Slate
• Tim Harford, Divorce Is Good for Women – Slate
• How to Save Marriage– marriage trends in US, Atlantic 2014
• Why Aren’t More Wives Outearning Their Husbands? – Atlantic
• The dating gap –  why not in  women’s favor? Guardian 2015
• The economics of sex – supply and demand in market for sex
• The rise of wives – Pew Research Center
• Men marry up educationally – institute for family studies
• Lorna Wendt’s $20 million divorce– home production value
• My divorce cost me $250,000 – a woman’s story
• Marriage premium for men – why do married men earn more?
• David Friedman Law’s Order: What Economics Has to Do With Law and Why It Matters” , read Ch 13

Assignment, answer the following questions:

1. Based on your readings for this module,  describe with numbers 5 recent trends related to marriage, divorce, cohabitation, and family composition.  What explains each of these trends?
2. Based on all the readings from this module, make a detailed lists of benefits and costs of marriage. Explain each briefly.
3. How do economists explain marriage wage premium for men?
4.  Read Friedman’s chapter on ‘Family’ from the book ‘Law’s Order’. What have you learned about the economics of the family?

5. Economics of crime 

Readings:

• Stealing A Few Moments For CRIME -Pedestrian Guide to Econ
• Crime, from the encyclopedia of economics  by Friedman
• Rational Criminals –Friedman, chapter in Hidden Order: The economics of Everyday Life
• Gary Becker, The Economics of Crime  -article
• Slate: Does Crime Pay? – Yes, for some
• The Economics of Cheating – read this chapter

6.   Economics of drugs

• War on drugs – set of short videos, learnliberty
• World Drug Report 2013 –  United Nations
• Supply-Side Drug Policy: Will it Ever Work? – read this chapter
• Job Fix / Crack Economy with Paul Solman
• Levitt: Why do crack dealers live with their mothers? -video
• Why violent criminals walking free?–  LearnLiberty
• Canales: The deadly genius of drug cartels – TED, supply, demand, distribution networks, business model, org structure
• How Weed Works: THC – scishow
• PBS video and Marijuana Economics
• PBS Frontline:  “Drug Wars”
• Illicit drug issues by country, CIA
• Drug threat assessment – DEA info on cartels
• US Drug Enforcement Administration
• What if Marijuana Were Decriminalized? -Freakonomics
• DEATH FOR DRUGS IN SINGAPORE, B Caplan
• The Drug War Goes Up in Smoke, the Nation, 2003
• Drug Policy Alliance in favor of legalization
• National Institute on Drug Abuse
• The Secret of Worldwide Drug Prohibition by Harry G. Levine
• Drug cartels in Colombia -PBS
• www.DrugWarFacts.org
• Milton Friedman – Why Drugs Should Be Legalized – interview with Nobel prize free market economist
• Levitt, Venkatesh,”Are we a family or a business? History and disjuncture in the urban American street gang.”
• Levitt, Venkatesh, “An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang’s Finances.” QJE
• Homework 7  

7.  Technology and economics

• Misha Glenny investigates global crime networks – TED

• Napoleoni: The economics of terrorism – TED, $1.5 trillion, money laundering and the US Patriot Act
• FBI Financial Crimes Report, 2010-2011
• Online crime:  www.antiphishing.org
• Goodman: A vision of crimes in the future –technology & crime
• Michio Kaku: The Dark Side of Technology
• Cyberwar – ted ed
• US Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division
• Dan Ariely’s Animated Talk : How and Why We’re All Dishonest
• Dan Ariely: Our buggy moral code -TED talk
• Gilbert: Why we make bad decisions – TED, people make mistakes
• Intellectual Property Law – what is IP from legal point of view?
• Everything is a Remix – The trouble with intellectual property – new ideas start with copying
• Homework 8 

8.  Economic issues of the digital age  

• Network externalities – video
• Understanding network effects – pdf chapter
• The age of big data – NYTimes
• www.kickstarter.com  -finance a project without a bank
• www.crowdsourcing.org -crowd fund an idea
• www.xprize.org – X prize foundation
• Bitcoin 101 – Understanding Bitcoin (pt. 1 of 3) – A Beginner’s Guide (With Help from Wikipedia)
• Bitcoin-how does it work? – electronic money Bitcoin.org will complete with government money
• Creating Our Own Money: Introduction  and examples  video
• Bitcoin Fever Has Spawned 100+ Copycat Cryptocurrencies
• Bitcoin Is Flawed, But It Will Still Take Over the World
• Bitcoin problems – the atlantic
• Free! The Future of Prices – Wired
• Free! The Future of a Radical Price – Chris Andersen’s book, pdf
• Discussion questions 5

9. Behavioral economics

to be edited