Computer Laboratory > Teaching > Course material 2009–10 > Computer Science Tripos Syllabus and Booklist 2009-2010 > Economics and Law

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Economics and Law

Lecturers: Professor R.J. Anderson and Mr N.D.F. Bohm

No. of lectures: 8

Professional Practice and Ethics (Part IA) provides a useful foundation for this course.

This course is a prerequisite for the Part II courses Security, Business Studies and E-Commerce.

Aims

This course aims to give students an introduction to some basic concepts in economics and law.

Lectures

Objectives

At the end of the course students should have a basic appreciation of economic and legal terminology and arguments. They should understand some of the applications of economic models to systems engineering and their interest to theoretical computer science. They should also understand the main constraints that markets and legislation place on firms dealing in information goods and services.

Recommended reading

* Shapiro, C. & Varian, H. (1998). Information rules. Harvard Business School Press.
Varian, H. (1999). Intermediate microeconomics - a modern approach. Norton.

Further reading:

Smith, A. (1776). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, available at
http://www.econlib.org/LIBRARY/Smith/smWN.html
Poundstone, W. (1992). Prisoner's dilemma. Anchor Books.
Levitt, S.D. & Dubner, S.J. (2005). Freakonomics. Morrow.
Seabright, P. (2005). The company of strangers. Princeton.
Anderson, R. (2008). Security engineering (Chapter 7). Wiley.
Galbraith, J.K. (1991). A history of economics. Penguin.
Lessig L. (2005). Code and other laws of cyberspace v2, available at
http://www.lessig.org/



next up previous contents
Next: Introduction to Security Up: Easter Term 2010: Part Previous: Complexity Theory   Contents