Economics and Literature Assessments

For those who would like to start integrating your economics and literary instruction, here are some project ideas from my new course. I’ve categorized them for younger learners (middle schoolers) up to older students (upper high schoolers), so you can decide what is appropriate for your child’s skill level.

Beginner

After reading Leonard Read’s “I, Pencil,” think of another simple item from everyday life—try something quite different than a pencil. Investigate how many different materials and steps have gone into its production. Write your own version of “I, Pencil” explaining this complicated process and bringing a sense of life history to your selected item. Persuade your reader what a miracle it is that we have such products available to us, and how a free-market understanding increases our respect for things people have created.

Intermediate

Find a piece of literature on your own that illustrates one (or more) of the economic concepts from this course—or other concepts from the Austrian economics tradition. Write an essay explaining how the characters or plot demonstrate free market principles. Go even further by developing it into a short video (as I’ve done in the creative destruction module as well as in these samples found here) capable of being shared on YouTube. Let’s work on spreading these great ideas about economics and literature!

Advanced

Just as I’ve done in the debt/interest, human capital, and government intervention modules, find a piece of literature that has previously been analyzed from an anti-capitalist (Marxist) perspective, and write a research essay that explores how a capitalist reading in the Austrian tradition would offer a better interpretation. Examine the characters and plots in light of economic actions, and make the case for a new reading. Convince your reader that your new form of literary criticism is more useful and enjoyable for students of both literature and economics.

For modules with links to literary and economic texts, as well as summary videos and discussion questions, be sure to visit the full course. See you there!