Teaching

PPE 470 (Capstone): Philosophy and Public Policy (sample syllabus here).

Fall and Spring for PPE majors.

This capstone seminar will aim to assess a range of topics at the intersection of philosophy and public policy. We will consider conceptual and normative issues related to the operation of particular markets, failures of political and economic institutions around the world, and questions about distributive justice and equality. We will also consider some contemporary problems in public policy, such as the moral and political implications of cryptocurrency markets, the moral permissibility of America’s war on drugs, and justifications of various immigration policies. Specific questions we will consider include: Are some markets morally impermissible? Are sweatshops exploitative? Why is corruption harmful? What is a just distribution of income and wealth? Are communities owed drug war reparations? We will use core concepts from PPE to evaluate and answer these questions.

PPE 470 / PPE 402 (Capstone/Research Seminar): Corruption and Development (sample Capstone syllabus here; Spring 2022 Research Seminar syllabus here).

Fall or Spring for PPE majors.

This capstone seminar will cover a range of topics related to the political economy of corruption and development. We will consider theoretical, empirical, and normative issues related to the failures and successes of social, political, and economic institutions around the world (with a focus on the Global South). Specific questions we may consider include: What, if anything, is wrong with corruption? How do some markets (such as vote markets) operate despite seemingly insurmountable transaction costs? What is the relationship between formal and informal institutions, and what role does the character of such institutions play in the determination of social and political outcomes? We will use core concepts from PPE to evaluate and answer these questions.

PPE 401 / PPE 498: Independent Study or Honors Thesis

Fall, Spring, and Summer for PPE majors.

Outside of my usual teaching obligations, I find supervising honors theses and directing independent studies particularly rewarding. I have supervised and mentored numerous Penn PPE students over the years on topics ranging from how to think about corruption in China, to the role that social norms play in honor killings, to the ethics of social media censorship. Most of the projects I supervise are related to corruption and/or development, though I am comfortable supervising topics in political philosophy more broadly.