Lynda Pickbourn

Recent and Upcoming Courses

• Gender and Work in the Global Economy

  This course focuses on the labor market transformations that have resulted from economic restructuring informed by neoliberal policies and the reorganization of production in both high and low income countries over the last three decades or so. The course takes a comparative perspective that analyzes the gendered dimensions of these processes, points out the contradictory tendencies at work and emphasizes the shared concerns of workers across the globe. Among the questions that will be addressed in the course are the following: what repercussions have these changes in the structure of production in the world economy had on employment dynamics in high- and low-income countries? What does the feminization of the labor force mean, and how is it different from the feminization of labor? What are the main trends leading to labor market informalization? What are the gendered implications of these trends? Can we generalize across countries? Is there a role for government policy, international labor standards, as well as social and political activism across borders in raising wages, promoting equal opportunity, fighting discrimination in the workplace, and securing greater control over working hours and conditions?

• History of Economic Thought

  The central goal of this course is to track the ways in which Western economic thought has developed historically both as a response to inadequacies of previous theory and as a reflection of new economic problems that emerge as economies and societies evolve over time. The focus will be on (a) classical political economy and its critiques; (b) the marginalist revolution; (c) institutionalist economics; (d) the Keynesian revolution and (e) contemporary theory. Major groups and thinkers covered include Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, Karl Marx, the early Marginalists, the Neoclassicals, Thorstein Veblen, John Maynard Keynes and contemporary heterodox thinkers. A frequently recurring theme in the course is the issue of whether the capitalist economic system produces social harmony or social conflict. Other persistent themes include debates over the inherent stability or instability of capitalism, the reasons for income inequality and poverty, and the economic analysis of individual behavior. This course is designed to help you further develop your reading, writing, and critical thinking skills by exploring the ideas of these theorists. The focus on comparative theory that we adopt in this class will compel us to grapple with the complexity of economic theorizing, as well as sharpen our abilities to think critically.

• Labor Economics

  This course provides students with an introduction to major economic theories of labor markets, employment and unemployment and will examine the extent to which these theories are borne out by both statistical and qualitative studies of labor in the United States, a major capitalist economy. We will use a variety of methods in our study: statistical and graphical summaries of economic and social indicators; ethnographic descriptions of work in the factories, offices, laboratories, and hospitals of the modern economy; historical narratives about the development and transformation of labor in the United States; and economic arguments based on principles of social or individual behavior. Our analytical tools will include statistical methods, race, gender and class analysis as well as the analytical tools of neoclassical economics. Labor issues such as the growth of part-time/flexible employment; low wages, unemployment, gender and racial discrimination, wage and income inequality and unpaid labor will be discussed along with debates around minimum wages, immigration and labor unions.

• Work in the Global Economy

  This course focuses on the labor market transformations that have resulted from economic restructuring informed by neoliberal policies and the reorganization of production in both high and low income countries over the last three decades or so. Among the questions that will be addressed in the course are the following: What repercussions have these changes in the structure of production in the world economy had on employment dynamics in high- and low-income countries? What does the feminization of the labor force mean, and how is it different from the feminization of labor? What are the main trends leading to labor market informalization? What are the gendered implications of these trends? Can we generalize across countries? Is there a role for government policy, international labor standards, as well as social and political activism across borders in raising wages, promoting equal opportunity, fighting discrimination in the workplace, and securing greater control over working hours and conditions?

• Feminist Economics

  Feminist Economics critically analyzes both economic theory and economic life through the lens of gender and advocates various forms of feminist economic transformation. But is there a need for a feminist economics, and if so, why? How is it different from mainstream economic analyses of gender inequality? What does a feminist vision of an alternative economic system look like? This course explores these questions in depth. The class will begin with a theoretical and empirical introduction to the goals and concerns of feminist economics. Students will be introduced to mainstream economic explanations of gender inequality, and to feminist critiques of these. We will then embark on an in-depth exploration of feminist economic theory, methodology, applications and policy prescriptions, and feminist visions of an alternative economic system. The course will cover topics such as sex discrimination in labor markets, the economics of the household, caring labor, and the solidarity economy.