The estimable David Zetland is teaching an environmental econ course at Berkeley. Here's a choice quote:

"Teaching is difficult because it requires that you present your messy, complicated, evolved knowledge in an orderly and incremental manner that can be learned."

Just speaking, of course, is easy: go on autopilot, ramble for about 50-75 minutes, and then blame the students' moral and intellectual deficiencies when they have a hard time instantly grasping stuff you've been thinking about all day every day for the last decade or two or three or four or five. Actually teaching, on the other hand, is really, really difficult. And, I might add, it is really, really rewarding.

Speaking of which, the first assignment for Econ 101 and the reading & discussion questions for Econ 339 are below the fold.

Economics 101
Homework #1
“A Conflict of Visions”
Due Tuesday, September 1, 2009
10 points

Health care reform is one of the most contentious issues in the United States. Finish reading A Conflict of Visions and be prepared to discuss it in class on Tuesday, September 1. In a short essay (1-2 double-spaced pages), use what you learn by reading Sowell and the “Ten Key Elements of Economics” article to craft a proposal for how we should—or should not—reform the health care system. Your essay should do the following:

Consider what Sowell means by the “locus of discretion” and “mode of discretion,” and explain what these imply about the sources of order in the constrained and unconstrained visions (4 points).

Along the same lines, consider “Key Elements” 6, 9, and 10. Explain how these are related to Sowell’s loci and modes of discretion and explain what this implies about health care (4 points).

You will benefit from forming a study group and meeting with them on a regular basis. List the members of your study group and their favorite flavors of ice cream (2 points).

--//--

Economics 339: Reading and Discussion Questions for Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Readings: Douglass C. North, Structure and Change in Economic History, chapters 1-6 and John Nye's recent article on the New Deal in The American Interest (which is now gated, apparently).

1. What, according to North, is “the task of economic history?” How might it be accomplished? What are “the key problems” faced by economic historians? Hint: the first question is answered in chapter 1, the last question is answered in chapter 3.

2. What are the “building blocks” of North’s theory of institutions?

3. What is the “basic tension that has been and remains the center of economic history?” Why is it basic, and why is it tension?

4. What is North’s argument, and why is a theory of the state necessary?

5. What, according to North, is a state, and what does North mean by the following: “The existence of the state is essential for economic growth; the state, however, is the source of man-made economic decline”?

6. What are transaction costs, and why are they important?

7. According to John Nye, what did western civilization accomplish in the last several centuries, and how was this accomplishment undermined by the Great Depression?

8. What are the apparent tensions between ideology and individual interests explored in chapter 5?

9. What are the “three aspects of ideology” North stresses, and how do they affect the development of economic institutions?

10. Why was “(t)he wedding of science and technology in the late nineteenth century” an economic revolution “in the same sense as the development of agriculture”?

11. What is missing from the story?