The Stoic tradition and Hellenistic schools—taught that philosophical discourse should provide the mind with a small number of core, tightly linked principles for daily guidance and easy memorization. Ancient schools (such as the Stoics) kept their foundational maxims brief so students could easily recall them during everyday life. A small set of interconnected principles served as mental shortcuts (dogmata) to maintain a philosophical way of living.
Applying Stoicism to teaching economic theory shifts the focus from rigid, abstract modeling to behavioral decision-making under uncertainty. By integrating the ancient concepts of what we can control and cosmopolitan duty, you can transform economics from a cold math exercise into a highly practical guide for navigating market volatility and human biases. For example, The Dichotomy of Control
* Theory: Connect this to market risk and macroeconomic shocks.
* Application: Teach students to separate individual choice (what is controllable) from aggregate market forces (what is uncontrollable).
* Mitigating Cognitive Biases
* Theory: Relate the Stoic practice of Propatheia (initial emotional impressions) to behavioral finance.
* Application: Train students to recognize how fear and greed drive market bubbles, herd mentality, and irrational panic.
* Cosmopolitanism and Externalities
* Theory: Use Hierocles’ circles of concern to reframe global trade and environmental impacts.
* Application: Expand traditional welfare economics beyond local self-interest to analyze global public goods.
I appreciate your approach, Justin. Teach a basic principle; then show 3 different applications of it in 3 quite different realms of life. That seems solid.
I'm also curious whether you ask your students in classes whether/how they've applied particular principles themselves; what they see as other potential applications apart from the 3 you explained; and whether the students (e.g. in small group discussions) get to 'workshop' ideas about how to apply a principle to different realms.
That is absolutely the goal... building the muscle and practicing new applications. (Do I always live up to my goals? that's a different discussion...)
I really enjoyed the Stanford panel discussion. I have a different view of the predatory finance system. I’m older, so my contemporaries aren’t wagering on DraftKings or hoping to get rich on Bitcoin (though I may be surprised). My friends and neighbors are paying for their advisors’ sports cars because they are terrified that they aren’t smart enough to handle their own financial affairs.
Instead of low-cost index funds, they pay exorbitant AUM fees for the privilege of holding boutique funds that contain a turducken of additional fees. Once they’ve gone to enough steak dinners with their friendly sports-car-driving advisor, trust, inertia, and the sunk-cost fallacy make the relationship remarkably sticky.
I realize it’s a privilege to be on this side of the economic spectrum, but the amounts lost to unnecessary fees can be substantial—and that is money that could remain invested, support the next generation, or serve other purposes people actually value.
Thanks for the accessible coverage of economics and personal finance. This is the information I share with my own young-adult kids.
The Stoic tradition and Hellenistic schools—taught that philosophical discourse should provide the mind with a small number of core, tightly linked principles for daily guidance and easy memorization. Ancient schools (such as the Stoics) kept their foundational maxims brief so students could easily recall them during everyday life. A small set of interconnected principles served as mental shortcuts (dogmata) to maintain a philosophical way of living.
Applying Stoicism to teaching economic theory shifts the focus from rigid, abstract modeling to behavioral decision-making under uncertainty. By integrating the ancient concepts of what we can control and cosmopolitan duty, you can transform economics from a cold math exercise into a highly practical guide for navigating market volatility and human biases. For example, The Dichotomy of Control
* Theory: Connect this to market risk and macroeconomic shocks.
* Application: Teach students to separate individual choice (what is controllable) from aggregate market forces (what is uncontrollable).
* Mitigating Cognitive Biases
* Theory: Relate the Stoic practice of Propatheia (initial emotional impressions) to behavioral finance.
* Application: Train students to recognize how fear and greed drive market bubbles, herd mentality, and irrational panic.
* Cosmopolitanism and Externalities
* Theory: Use Hierocles’ circles of concern to reframe global trade and environmental impacts.
* Application: Expand traditional welfare economics beyond local self-interest to analyze global public goods.
I appreciate your approach, Justin. Teach a basic principle; then show 3 different applications of it in 3 quite different realms of life. That seems solid.
I'm also curious whether you ask your students in classes whether/how they've applied particular principles themselves; what they see as other potential applications apart from the 3 you explained; and whether the students (e.g. in small group discussions) get to 'workshop' ideas about how to apply a principle to different realms.
That is absolutely the goal... building the muscle and practicing new applications. (Do I always live up to my goals? that's a different discussion...)
It was inevitable, I suppose, but still striking.
I finally heard Justin Wolfers say something with which I disagree and found pedantically argumentative.
In response to a comment that the current generation hasn't learned to save he focuses on a tree and ignores the forest.
paraphrased..."Student's that cannot afford to eat properly should spend more. Debt for education is investing in human capital." Really?
Not really responsive to the broader point being made, and within the specific area of education some real cherry picking going on there.
Oh well, even the great sometimes stumble. It's only important they recognize when they have and not mistake it for an elegant intellectual dance.
I really enjoyed the Stanford panel discussion. I have a different view of the predatory finance system. I’m older, so my contemporaries aren’t wagering on DraftKings or hoping to get rich on Bitcoin (though I may be surprised). My friends and neighbors are paying for their advisors’ sports cars because they are terrified that they aren’t smart enough to handle their own financial affairs.
Instead of low-cost index funds, they pay exorbitant AUM fees for the privilege of holding boutique funds that contain a turducken of additional fees. Once they’ve gone to enough steak dinners with their friendly sports-car-driving advisor, trust, inertia, and the sunk-cost fallacy make the relationship remarkably sticky.
I realize it’s a privilege to be on this side of the economic spectrum, but the amounts lost to unnecessary fees can be substantial—and that is money that could remain invested, support the next generation, or serve other purposes people actually value.
Thanks for the accessible coverage of economics and personal finance. This is the information I share with my own young-adult kids.