The New York Stock Exchange, then located at 10–2 Broad Street, now located at 11 Wall Street in Manhattan, has become symbolic of capitalism in the United States. (Illustration by Hughson Hawley, 1882.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Christine Walley
MIT Course Number
21A.461
As Taught In
Fall 2013
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
As we live in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis of 2008, there are renewed questions about the nature of the economic system—capitalism—within which we live. What are its benefits and drawbacks? Why does it garner both so much opposition and support? What are its moral, economic, social and political implications? Is it even a "system"? How has capitalism played out in different historical moments and regions of the world? This class addresses the question "what is capitalism?" from a social scientific point of view, rather than a classical economic one.