Browse our Free Essay examples and check out our Writing tools to get your assignments done.
ECO 307 Intermediate
Microeconomics
Fall
2018
Guidelines for Essay I
1. Essay II Assignment: Write a review essay of M. J. Sandel (2013).
“Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning: Why Economists Should Re-engage with
Political Philosophy,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives,
27 (4): 121–140 [search the Buffalo Library database to download this article]
2. Deadline: November 15, Thursday, 6:00 PM (submit through the Turnitin dropbox in Blackboard). Make sure that your submission appears in the Turnitin dropbox. Late submission may be accepted with reduced points, but no later than November 17, Saturday, 6:00 PM. Read the following guidelines carefully.
3. Purpose of writing an essay: Eco 307 is a writing intensive course. One of goals of this course is to develop critical thinking as well as writing skill. Writing a formal, academic essay requires the following: 1) thorough reading: understanding of the assigned material correctly, 2) critical thinking: making your own argument in a convincing manner by providing supporting reasons and evidence, and 3) clear writing style.
4. Structure: Academic essays must contain Introduction, Main body, and Conclusion. See the Economics and Finance Department writing guidelines for a review essay here:http://economics.buffalostate.edu/writing-short-essay
5. Contents:
• A review essay is not a summary of the assigned article. In the introductory paragraph, state clearly and briefly what you are going to write/argue—that is, raise your own questions and outline your essay. In the main body of the essay, pick up a few or several important arguments/issues and then develop your own ideas on those selected issues.
• Keep in mind that “critical thinking” is the most important component of an academic essay, if critiques are addressed in an appropriate manner. Assertions or personal feeling without supporting argumentation should be avoided. Critical argument does not mean the rejection of others’ argument. Critical thinking is a reasoned and educated assessment of others’ ideas and argument.
• Readers (including your professor) are not interested in seeing the repetition of others’ ideas. Readers expect to see your understanding and argument of others’ ideas you are reviewing. Also note that there is no “correct” idea in economics. A good argument is a well-articulated and well-evidenced one.
• Students tend to evaluate academic arguments from a political viewpoint. Although every person has her/his political/ideological value, an academic argument is not about choosing a side, but about developing ideas.
6. Questions to be considered:
• What’s market reasoning and moral reasoning? What are the problems of market reasoning? Why does Sandel argue that moral reasoning should be given a priority over market reasoning?
• Neoclassical economics supports the view that the market should be free of any regulation so that it can achieve the equilibrium position at which all self-interested individuals (both seller and buyers) achieve maximum welfare (profits and utility). What’s Michael Sandel’s response to the neoclassical conception of the market and of the market price mechanism? What’s your response to the neoclassical argument?
• Some people have long argued that public higher education should be privatized and treated as a commodity—that is, the college is the marketplace where the seller (administration and professors) and consumers (students) exchange knowledge and learning following the rules of the market— in order to improve consumer’s learning efficiency as well as seller’s cost-efficiency. What’s the problem, if any, of this argument from the moral-social perspective descried by Sandel?
•
How is Sandel’s argument related to John Henry’s argument in the
“Illusion of the Epoch?”
7. Format
• The paper must be typed in 12 point font, double-spaced, and minimum 1,000 words including title, footnotes, and references; if the word count is significantly lower than 1,000 words, some points will be deducted. There is no upper-limit to the word count.
• Insert a page number on each page.
• No need to insert a separate cover page (only Name, Date, Title on top of the first page are necessary).
• Direct quotation should be kept to a minimum. Use your own words.
• Extra spaces/margins between sentences or between paragraphs are unnecessary.
• Check spelling and grammar carefully before submitting the essay. If necessary, go to Writing Help Center at the Buffalo State Library (see the Center information here: https://academiccommons. buffalostate.edu/writing-center)
8. Citation and Bibliography: Students are free to use any other resources—books, journal articles, data, and the like, if they are used in a proper manner. But Wikipedia, Investopia, or any similar online site should not be used. All borrowed terms, phrases, or ideas should be cited in text and included in the reference list. When you cite a reference in text, provide: Author last name, year of publication, page number—for example, (Jo 2016, p. 327). In the reference list, provide full information of the cited material in the following format: Author last name, first name, year of publication, title of the article/book, journal title or publishing house. For example, Jo, Tae-Hee (2016), “What if there are no conventional price mechanisms?” Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 327–344.
9. No Plagiarism: Any form of plagiarism must be avoided. Otherwise you will get zero for the essay. To learn about plagiarism, see here: http://economics.buffalostate.edu/plagiarism
Market
Reasoning as Moral Reasoning
Name
Institutional
Affiliation
Date
The
article titled, “Market Reasoning as
Moral Reasoning: Why Economists Should Re-engage with Political Philosophy”
was written and published by Michael J. Sandel in 2013. The author provides convincing
arguments on how the domains of life that in the past were under the control of
nonmarket norms are currently being influenced by market values and market
reasoning. For example, money and markets play a significant role in civic
life, political campaigns, military services, environmental protection, and so
on (Sandel, 2013, p.121). This situation of monetizing every human activity
erodes certain societal norms. As a result, the author asserts that it is
imperative that the society holds a public debate and decides the extent at
which the market mechanisms get to serve the public good.
The
market reasoning is often confused for moral reasoning. According to Sandel
(2013, p.122), people tend to think that economic efficiency represents the
common good in any social setting. This assertion is a mistake because the
common good cannot be assumed to be the act of providing goods to individuals
with the willingness to buy them. However, market reasoning has certain
limitations; for instance, free exchange of a good might be involuntary considering,
in reality, the seller is generally in need of money to cater for specific
needs. Besides, the author argues that market reasoning only focuses on the
valuation of good things in life. An exchange is considered efficient if the
parties involved benefit; however, this overlooks the fact that the good can be
valued wrongly by one (or both) parties.
Moral
reasoning should be prioritized over market reasoning because of the existence
of moral objections to certain market transactions. Sandel (2013, p.122)
asserts that economics can be described as moral science. Equity and efficiency
in an economy guarantee that the society ends up better off after an exchange
of goods. To support his argument, the author opines that this situation brings
up the question of what is counted as better off. The response often hinges on
on the understanding of the public good or overall well-being. Besides, the
extension of markets into noneconomic aspects of life casts a shadow of doubt
over the assumption that economics is a value-free science. Market reasoning
treats goods just as mere commodities however moral reasoning works on the
assumption of goods have specific values attached to them hence spearheads the
campaign of distributive justice.
Neoclassical
economics supports the idea that a market should be free of any form of
regulation so that to achieve a state of equilibrium as a way of attaining
maximum welfare. However, Michael Sandel believes that the lack of
standardization makes markets unfair to the individuals who have no willingness
and the ability to buy goods that are being sold in the market. Maximum welfare
cannot be achieved through the application of regulations because in certain
markets such as refugee quotas they result in the erosion of norms and
attitudes resulting in corruption (Sandel, 2013, p.132). Markets influence
different domains of life, therefore, possess a significant role in the
attainment of maximum welfare. Consequently, it is implausible to assume that
the market does not influence the good under the exchange.
An ideal society is made of a market that is free of rules and regulations that threaten to erode or crowd-out the economy to the disadvantage of those without the willingness and...
