Economic Anthropology Fall 2011

Course: Anthropology 189H Time: Wednesdays, 7:009:50 pm Place: Hahn 215 Professor: Email: Office: Office Hours: Karthik Panchanathan karthikpanchanathan@gmail.com Hahn 211 Tues. and Thurs., 1:302:30; by appointment

Course Description: In every society, people must make a living, whether it means foraging, farming, or trading stocks and bonds. In the simplest sense, economic anthropologists study how people in different societies and cultures make a living. But more than that, economic anthropologists study why people live as they do, why they farm one crop and not another, why they have more or fewer kids, and what each person has to give up in order to have something else. Economic anthropology is the study of peoples goalspersonal, cultural and, socialand how they go about achieving them. It is the study of how people make decisions and how these decisions are affected by self-interest, altruism, culture, institutions like bowling leagues, and local and global politics. Readings: There are four books that you need to purchase: naked economics by Charles Wheelan, Making a Market by Jean Ensminger, The Lobster Gangs of Maine by James Acheson, and Sweetness and Power by Sidney Mintz. There will also be weekly reading assignments (labeled Articles on the schedule) posted to the Sakai website. Discussion questions: Each week, we will discuss several Articles. For each week, submit two discussion questions from these readings (each question from a different reading) by Tuesday night (i.e., the night before class). These should be open-ended questions, not simple restatements of the authors positions. Ideally, these questions should demonstrate that you have read the articles and foster in-class discussion. Writing assignments: For the books by Ensminger, Acheson, and Mintz, write a 1,000-word essay on each. These will be due on the day that we discuss the books (see schedule). These are meant to be reaction papers, not book reports; summarize only as much as is needed. Choose some aspect of the book that interests you and write about it (e.g., evaluate whether or not the author made a convincing argument). Be creative and have fun. There are three specific things I am looking for: correct grammar and spelling, a well-structured argument, and evidence of thinking. Grading Participation 30% Discussion questions (13) 30% Writing assignments (3) 30% (attendance, discussing the readings, not social networking) (about 1.2% for each question) (10% for each assignment)

Writing advice: If you need help writing, come talk to me or visit the Writing Center (Pearsons 010), which offers free consultations at any stage of the writing process. The Writing Center offers consultations by online appointment (http://writing.pomona.edu) or through drop-in hours (Sundays and Wednesdays, 810pm, Pearsons 003). You can also read a guide book. I recommend The Elements of Style by Strunk and White as style guide, Economical Writing by McCloskey as a writing guide, and The Uses of Argument by Toulmin for constructing an argument. Students with disabilities: If you have any kind of disability, please come talk to me or contact your colleges dean: Marcelle Holmes at Pomona (mdc04747@pomona.edu), Rochelle Brown at Pitzer (rochelle_brown@pitzer.edu), Jill Hawthorne at Scripps (jill.hawthorne@scrippscollege.edu), Maggie Browning at Harvey Mudd (maggie_browning@hmc.edu), and Julia Easley at CMC (julia.easley@claremontmckenna.edu). The colleges offer various support programs. Its crucial that you seek out help early in the semester, so we can set up a plan. Academic Integrity Consult the Academic Honesty Policy and Procedures in the Student Handbook

Course Schedule
Date Title Book reading Articles Activities 08/31 Course introduction Film: First Contact -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 1 Economics and its discontents 09/07 Neoclassical economics Wheelan, Ch. 15 Becker1 Levitt 09/14 09/21 Formalists vs. Substantivists The psychology of choice Ensminger 1/4 Ensminger 2/4 Polanyi Bohannan Todd Rozin Henrich1 Film: The Trobrianders

09/28

Sanders Film: Subsistence Salamon Systems (30 min) McElreath -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 2 Ways of making a living 10/05 Foragers Ensminger 4/4 Cashden Film: N!ai, Story of a Gurven !Kung Woman Diamond 10/12 10/19 10/26 Farmers Herders Money and markets Acheson 1/4 Acheson 2/4 Wheelan, Ch. 611 Johnson Cancain Mace Film: Warriors of the Amazon Discuss Ensminger Film: Masai Women

Culture matters

Ensminger 3/4

Neale Krugman1 Krugman2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Part 3 Special topics 11/02 Gifts and exchange Acheson 3/4 Mauss Film: Ongkas Saunders Big Moka Waldfogel 11/09 Cooperation Acheson 4/4 Hardin Henrich2 Mathew Discuss Acheson

11/16

The demographic transition

Mintz 1/4

Borgerhoff Mulder1 Becker2 Richerson

11/23 11/30

NO CLASS THANKSGIVING Globalization and development

Mintz 2/4 Mintz 3/4 Karlan Film: The Goddess and Banerjee the Computer Wheelan, Ch. 1213 Daly Discuss Mintz Bowles Borgerhoff Mulder2

12/07

Inheritance and inequality

Mintz 4/4

Books Acheson, James M. 1988. The Lobster Gangs of Maine. Ensminger, Jean. 1996. Making a Market: The Institutional Transformation of an African Society. Mintz, Sidney W. 1985. Sweetness and Power. Wheelan, Charles. 2010. naked economics: Undressing the Dismal Science. Additional readings (Articles) Banerjee, Abhijit, et al. The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation. Working paper. Becker, Gary S. 1960. An Economic Analysis of Fertility. Becker, Gary S. 1976. The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. In The Economic Approach to Human Behavior, G.S. Becker, pp. 314. Bohannan, Paul. 1955. Some Principles of Exchange and Investment among the Tiv. American Anthropologist 57: 6070. Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique. 1998. The demographic transition: are we any closer to an evolutionary explanation? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13: 266270. Borgerhoff Mulder, Monique, et al. 2009. Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies. Science 326: 682688. Bowles, Samuel, and Gintis, Herbert. 2002. The Inheritance of Inequality. Cancian, Frank. 1989. Economic Behavior in Peasant Communities. In Economic Anthropology, S. Plattner (ed.). Cashdan, Elizabeth. 1989. Hunters and Gatherers: Economic Behavior in Bands. In Economic Anthropology, S. Plattner (ed.). Daly, Martin, et al. 2001. Income inequality and homicide rates in Canada and the United States. Canadian Journal of Criminology, April: 219236. Diamond, Jared. 1987. The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. Discover, May: 6466. Gurven, Michael. 2004. To give and to give not: The behavioral ecology of human food transfers. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27: 543583. You are only required to read pages 543559. Hardin, Garrett. 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162: 12431248. Henrich, Joseph. 2002. Decision Making, Cultural Transmission, and Adaptation in Economic Anthropology. In Theory in Economic Anthropology, J. Ensminger (ed.). Henrich, Joseph, et al. 2005. Economic man in cross-cultural perspective: Behavioral experiments in 15 smallscale societies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28: 795855. You are only required to read pages 795815. Johnson, Allen. 1989. Horticulturalists: Economic Behavior in Tribes. In Economic Anthropology, S. Plattner (ed.). Karlan, Dean, and Zinman, Jonathan. 2011. Microcredit in Theory and Practice: Using Randomized Credit Scoring for Impact Evaluation. Science 332: 12781284.

Krugman, Paul. 1998. Baby-Sitting the Economy: The baby-sitting co-op that went bust teaches us something that could save the world. Slate, August 14. Krugman, Paul. 2009. How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? The New York Times, September 6. Levitt, Steven D., and Dubner, Stephen J. 2005. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Chapter 1: What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?). Mace, Ruth. 1993. Transitions between Cultivation and Pastoralism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Current Anthropology 34: 363382. You are only required to read pages 363372. Mathew, Sarah, and Boyd, Robert. 2011. Punishment sustains large-scale cooperation in prestate warfare. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 1137511380. Mauss, Marcel. 1990. The Gift (Foreward by Mary Douglas, Chapters 1 and 2). McElreath, Richard. 2004. Social Learning and the Maintenance of Cultural Variation: An Evolutionary Model and Data from East Africa. American Anthropologist 106: 308321. Neale, Walter. 1976. Monies in Societies. Polanyi, Karl. 1957. The Economy as Instituted Process. In Trades and Market in the Early Empires. Richerson, Peter J., and Boyd, Robert. 2004. Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Adaptation (Chapter 5: Culture is Maladaptive). Rozin, Paul, and Nemeroff, Carol. 2002. Sympathetic Magical Thinking: The Contagion and Similarity Heuristics. In Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment, T. Gilovich et al. (eds.). Salamon, Sonya. 1985. Ethnic Communities and the Structure of Agriculture. Rural Sociology 50: 323340. Sanders, Todd. 1999. Modernity, Wealth, and Witchcraft in Tanzania. Research in Economic Anthropology 20: 117131. Saunders, Stephen G., and Lynn, Michael. 2010. Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards. Journal of Economic Psychology 31: 106113. Todd, Peter M., and Gigerenzer, Gerd. 2000. Prcis of Simple heuristics that make us smart. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23: 727780. You are only required to read pages 727741. Waldfogel, Joel. 2009. You Shouldnt Have: The economic argument for never giving another gift. Slate, December 8.