Instructor: Robin D. Hanson, Asst. Professor, Economics (rhanson@gmu.edu, http://robinhanson.com)
Office Hours: 9:30-10:15am, at Carow Hall office, Room 10A, 703-993-2326. I'm at Carow many other times as well; call or email to be sure. I'm also in my Arlington office, Truland Building Room 400Q, 703-993-4854, Mondays 5-6:30pm.
Catalog Entry:

HNRS 131 - Section 3 - Reforming Social Institutions. In this seminar we will learn to evaluate, and even to create, ideas for reforming our social institutions. After a two week overview of basic concepts about social institutions and some general considerations regarding their reform, we will go one by one, week by week, through major institutions of modern life. One week we might consider education, another week medicine, another week parking, another week marriage, and so on. For each such area, we will review the basic features and supposed functions of existing institutions, some common complaints about those institutions, and some suggested reforms. We will then critically evaluate proposed reforms, and try to imagine new solutions. In the process we hope to see some of the complexity and facades of familiar institutions, and how they need not remain as they are.

Barry J. Nalebuff and Ian Ayres, Why Not?: How To Use Everyday Ingenuity To Solve Problems Big And Small, Harvard Business School Press, 2004, ISBN 1591396816.

Alexander Tabarrok (Editor), Entrepreneurial Economics: Bright Ideas from the Dismal Science, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195145038.

• Reading Please read 10,000 words (or 20 pages) before each lecture, either from Why Not?, a relevant chapter of Entrepreneurial Economics, or from following links at the relevant section of The Class Sources Page.
• Comment Send ten emails, each ten lines or less, to rhanson@gmu.edu, with an intelligent comment the lecture or readings. No more than two comments per week please. Each comment is 2% of your grade.
• Three Short Papers Discuss a social institution proposal. Each paper should be less than 1000 words, fit on one piece of paper, and counts 10% of your grade. These are due on 28 Sep, 2 Nov, and 30 Nov.
• One Longer Paper A deeper discussion of a social institution proposal, 30% of grade. This is due the day of the final.
• Class Discussion All students are expected to attend class and join class discussions. We will sometimes use a token system to ensure this. This is 5% of your grade.
• Lunch Talk to me at lunch one day. No more than two students at a time please. 5% of grade.
• Final Exam This will take the form of a class discussion, and will be 10% of your grade.

Please follow these standard economist practices: Focus on the consequences of an institutional change, relative to the status quo, for the people who would be effected. Evaulate these changes using the preferences these people actually have, not the ones you wish they had. Count everyone effected similarly, and assume many of them will try to game any system for selfish or partisan ends. What the founding fathers intended, or what God wants, are irrelevant except as they may influence the above considerations.

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at 703.993.2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.