Dear Colleagues,

The below information may be of interest to you.

Sincerely,

Fred Lee

 
> Dear Colleagues
>
> I would be very grateful if you would make the following information
> available to your students and colleagues.
>
> Thank you in advance for your help.
>
> Yours sincerely
> Geoff Hodgson
>
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
>
> MASTERS DEGREE IN INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS
>
> Starting in September 2000, this degree will be offered in part-time mode
> only.
>
> The course is now designed so that students need to attend the University
> for short periods of intensive study and weekend courses only, allowing
> part-time study to be combined with full-time employment.
>
> Students will be supported through a self-guided study package enabling
> preparation and assignments from home.
>
> LECTURERS
>
> Lecturers on the MA Institutional Economics will include:
>
> Professor Geoff Hodgson
> Professor Tony Dnes
>
> Guest lecturers will include Dr Tony Lawson from the University of Cambridge.
>
> COURSE PROGRAMME
>
> Year 1 (2000-2001)
>
> Semester A Semester B
>
> Paradigms in Economics Institutional and Evolutionary Economics
> Economics Methodology Economics as Realist Social Theory
> Research Methods Course (Dissertation Preparation)
>
> Year 2 (2001-2002)
>
> Managing in Complexity Economics and Law
> International Development Managing Innovation and Change
> Dissertation Dissertation
>
> MODE OF ATTENDANCE
>
> The MA has been designed to be taken on a part time basis over two years.
> You will only need to attend the University for short periods of intensive
> teaching each semester. The course is structured so that you can complete
> it successfully, even if you are in full-time employment, or live at some
> distance or abroad.
>
> The University's academic year is broken into two teaching semesters that
> run from September until January, and from February until June.
>
> At the beginning of the semester you will attend for a short introduction
> (normally over a weekend), where you will be given a study pack and
> readings for each of the courses you are taking. You will then attend a
> residential taught course for a week in the middle of the semester for each
> course, and will submit your assignment for assessment on each course by
> the end of the semester.
>
> There will be a designated web site for the MA, and regular contact can be
> maintained with lecturers through email, fax, mail or telephone.
>
> Over the two years you will take two taught courses per semester. In
> addition in the first year you will attend a weekend residential Research
> Methods course. In the second year you will also complete a dissertation,
> to be submitted by September of that year.
>
> An annual workshop on Institutional Economics will also be held, to which
> leading outside speakers will be invited. The workshop will be open to MA
> students as well as a wider range of participants.
>
> Guide to timing of course:
>
> Semester A: September - Two day workshop plus weekend introductory
session
> October - Weekend Research Methods Course
> October - One Week Residential Course
> February - Submission of Semester A Assessment
>
> Semester B: February - Weekend Introductory Session
> March - One Week Residential Course
> June - Submission of Semester B Assessment
> September- Submission of dissertation (final year only)
>
> ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
>
> You can apply for the programme if you have the equivalent of a UK degree
> at 2.2 level or above in a relevant subject area. Professional experience
> may also be taken into account in deciding admission. If you are an
> overseas student, for whom English is not your first language, you will
> also need to have passed IELTS (6.5) or TOEFL (580).
>
> FACILITIES
>
> Residential courses and workshops will either be held at the University, or
> in hotel or conference facilities in Hertfordshire or an adjacent locality.
> The location will be chosen in order that students can stay and study
> within close proximity, in order to encourage group interaction and support.
>
> Hertfordshire is within easy access of London, the M25 and M1 motorways, as
> well as Heathrow, Stansted and Luton airports.
>
> The Hertford campus of the University provides advanced computing and
> library facilities in its newly equipped Learning Resources Centre. An
> integrated learning support electronic system is provided by the Learning
> Information System. The facilities are open in the evenings and at
> weekends to provide access for all full-time and part-time students.
>
> The Business School is set in idyllic parkland surroundings, and has good
> sports facilities, including tennis courts and a swimming pool. The
> Hertford campus is just north of London, with easy access by road or train.
>
> FURTHER INFORMATION
>
> Contact:
>
> The Admissions Office
> University of Hertfordshire
> College Lane, Hatfield
> Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK
>
> Tel: +44(0) 1707 284 800
> Fax: +44(0) 1707 284 870
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> WHAT IS INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS?
>
> Institutional economics constitutes one of the most exciting and topical
> developments in contemporary social science. Companies, governments and
> international organisations (such as the United Nations and World Bank) are
> giving increasing attention to sound institutional arrangements for
> economic development and future prosperity.
>
> A primary concern of Institutional Economics is to make economics relevant,
> operational and practical, instead of the pursuit of mathematical modelling
> for its own sake. It brings the study of key social institutions - such as
> the firm, the state, the market and the family - into the spotlight of
> analysis.
>
> Within Institutional Economics there is a strong focus on such factors as
> the role of culture, custom and routines in economic behaviour and
> development. It addresses economic and institutional change, usually
> ignored by other approaches and is thus an ideal analytical approach in a
> complex and rapidly changing world.
>
> The study of institutions is necessarily interdisciplinary, combining
> insights from economics, sociology, philosophy, psychology, history and
> complexity theory. Modern institutional economics is fully engaged with
> leading developments in the social sciences as well as management and
> business organisation. It combines theory with real world data, in an
> attempt to explain underlying processes and relations.
>
> Modern institutional and evolutionary economics is now developed to the
> point where it has extensive theoretical and policy applications - in areas
> such as technical change and technology policy, the theory of the firm and
> corporate strategy, and the economics of development and transition.
>
> The following institutional economists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in
> Economics: Douglass North (1993), Ronald Coase (1991), Gunnar Myrdal
> (1974), and Simon Kuznets (1971).
>
> The MA in Institutional Economics will study both the 'old' institutional
> economics of Thorstein Veblen, John Commons, Wesley Mitchell and Gunnar
> Myrdal and the 'new' institutional economics of Ronald Coase, Douglass
> North and Oliver Williamson. The merits and limitations of each tradition
> will be examined.
>
>
> Geoff Hodgson
> Research Professor
> University of Hertfordshire
> http://www.herts.ac.uk/business/esds/hodgson.htm
>


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