Eric, I am teaching exactly such a course right now at UCR. I will send you the syllabus if you are interested. From the syllabus I have also put together the collection of readings. Regards, Bob Pollin At 07:36 AM 10/17/96 -0700, you wrote: >Next fall I'll be teaching an introductory course on a variety >of different economic topics. The focus will be on the U.S. >The course will focus on issues, not on the use/misuse of >economic theory of any particular brand. > >The main problem with such a course is finding good readings. >Mansfield's Leading Economic Controversies seems to be >the best of the middle-of-the-road approach (here's what a >so-called liberal says; here's what a conservative says). Of >course, this approach has its weaknesses. > >What readings for a class mostly of first year college >students would people recommend on topics like: >the "bankruptcy" of social security, immigration, income >distribution/standard of living changes, size of goverment >and growth/efficiency, healthcare, debt/deficit, and so on. > >Does EPI or similar organization put out a reader. I haven't >used URPE material ("XXX in the real world") in recent years; >does such stuff still exist, is it any good, is it appropriate for >a non-principles course, it it up-to-date? > >Thanks for any leads. > >Eric >. >Eric Nilsson >Department of Economics >California State University >San Bernardino, CA 92407 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ******************************************* Robert Pollin Department of Economics U. of California-Riverside Riverside, CA 92521-0427, USA (909) 787-5037 ext. 1579 (office); (909) 788-8106 (home) (909) 787-5685 (fax); [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail)