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Universidad Francisco Marroquín
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The University was founded because the principles of liberty, respect for life and property, and equality before the law were not being taught in Guatemala. Not only were these ideas absent in the country's schools and on its campuses, but those who espoused them were subject to intimidation and often violence.
The University established two required courses designed to present students with the ideas and philosophy fundamental to an understanding of freedom and the rule of law and to sharpen their ability to reason and peacefully debate the issues involved.
All UFM students, enrolled in all programs, must pass the following courses on philosophy and economics to qualify for a degree.
Economic Processes
Economics I. Process of Social Cooperation
Section 1 - The nature of economic science. The economic problem of scarcity. Ends and means. Scale of values. Opportunity cost. Human action: definition and implications, social cooperation, types of social order.
Section 2 - Social organization. The economic significance of division of labor. The functions of capital. The law of association. Human cooperation. Means for human cooperation: private property, open markets, stable medium of exchange, trusted legal framework.
Section 3 - Theory of value. Supply and demand curves. Elasticity of demand.
Section 4 - The enterprise. Function of an enterprise. Forms of organization. The role of the entrepreneur. Profit and loss.
Section 5 - The market. Structure of markets. Horizontal and vertical relationships. Equilibrium. The price system. Allocation of resources. Coordination. Intervention in the market. Price controls, taxes, artificial monopolies.
Reading assignments from: Faustino Ballvé, Fundamentals of Economic Science; Manuel F. Ayau, Economic Process; Manuel F. Ayau and Gonzalo Asturias, How to Improve the Standard of Living; Friedrich von Hayek, The Order of Liberty; Ludwig von Mises, The Market; Richard Lipsey, Introduction to Positive Economics; Center for Economic and Social Studies, Statements on Economics and Law.
Economics II. The Market
Section 6 - Income. National accounts. Employment and wages. Income distribution.
Section 7 - Money, its nature and functions. Monetary relationships. Banking. Inflation and economic cycles. Credit and interest.
Section 8 - International trade. Comparative advantage. Barriers. Common markets. International monetary relations (exchange rate control, balance of payments).
Section 9 - Regulated markets. The theories of Keynes. Economic calculation under socialism and communism. Ethics and voluntary exchange.
Reading assignments from: Luis Pazos, Science and Economic Theory; Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson; E. Lyons, Workers' Paradise; Friedrich Hayek, The Road to Serfdom; Faustino Ballvé, Fundamentals of Economic Science; Center for Economic and Social Studies, Statements on Economics and Law.
The Philosophies of Hayek and Mises
Philosophy I. Social Philosophy of Hayek
Section 1 - The general problem of human knowledge. Initial philosophical knowledge (metaphysical), formal knowledge (logical/mathematical), knowledge of circumstances (time, place).
Section 2 - Knowledge involved in the taking of economic decisions.
Section 3 - The problem of economic planning in light of knowledge.
Section 4 - The concept of social order: spontaneous orders, planned or created orders.
Section 5 - The philosophy of liberty. Economic aspects (catalaxia), legal aspects (nomocracia), political aspects (demarchy).
Section 6 - Obstacles to liberty. Theoretical (constructive rationalism), moral (moral intentionalism).
Reading assignments from: Friedrich von Hayek, The Order of Liberty, The Constitution of Liberty, The Anti capitalist Mentality; Rigoberto Juárez-Paz, Philosophical Studies,
part 2; Henry Hazlitt, The Fundamentals of Morality.
Philosophy II - Social Philosophy of Mises
Section 1 - Characteristics that define human action.
Section 2 - The methodological differences between the natural sciences and the social sciences.
Section 3 - The utility of principle as an ethical doctrine in a free society.
Section 4 - The philosophical bases of individualism and collectivism.
Section 5 - The relationship between praxeology, economics and history.
Assigned readings from: Ludwig von Mises, Human Action and Theory and History; Rigoberto Juárez-Paz, The Conditions of the Dialogue.