As the course syllabus from 1978 transcribed below shows, Susan Rose-Ackerman has studied corruption for most of a half of century and we can see from a recent press release (a few days ago!) that her beat goes on.
Altruism was covered in the first part of the course, before the subject of corruption was treated. Today Yale undergraduates would probably christen the course Gifts and Grifts”.
Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman has contributed a chapter to a comprehensive handbook on corruption studies. She is Henry R. Luce Professor Emeritus of Jurisprudence, Law School and Department of Political Science, and Professorial Lecturer in Law. The book, “Handbook of Research Methods for Corruption Studies” — edited by Michael Johnston and published by Edward Elgar— offers a comprehensive analysis of the current state of corruption studies by asking four key questions: What do we want to do? What questions should we ask? How, and where, should we look for answers? And where do we go from here?
Source: Yale Law School. “Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman Examines Anti-Corruption Reform in New Handbook” November 10, 2026.
______________________________
Topics in Political Economy:
Altruism and Corruption
Susan Rose-AckermanYale University
Econ 459aFall 1978
(E&PS 224a)2:20 – 4:10 p.m. Thursday
Undergraduate CourseSeminar Rm., 70 Sachem St.
* = in package of readings
9/7I.Introduction: Hidden Assumptions in Economic Models
9/14, 21II.Altruism:
A.Gift Giving as a Quality Control Device: Blood and Lemons
1.R.M. Titmuss, The Gift Relationship, Pantheon Books, New York, 1971, pp. 11-89, 142-157, 195-246.
*2.K. Arrow, “Gifts and Exchanges,” in E.S. Phelps, ed. Altruism, Morality and Economic Theory, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1975, reprinted from Philosophy and Public Affairs (1972) 1: 343-362
*3.P. Singer, “Altruism and Commerce: A Defense of Titmuss Against Arrow,” Philosophy and Public Affairs (1973) 2: 312-320.
*4.G. Akerlof, “The Market for ‘Lemons’,” Quarterly Journal of Economics (August 1970) 84: 488-500.
*5.R. Kessel, “Transfused Blood, Serum Hepatitis and the Coase Theorem,” Journal of Law and Economics (October 1974) 17: 265-290.
6.R. Coase, “The Problem of Social Cost,” Journal of Law and Economics (1960) 3: 1-44.
*7.H. Sapolsky and S. Finkelstein, “Blood Policy Revisited — A New Look at ‘The Gift Relationship’” The Public Interest (Winter 1977) 46: 15-27.
9/28B.Requiring Altruism and Outlawing Sales
*1.E. Landes and R. Posner, “The Economics of the Baby Shortage,” Journal of Legal Studies (June 1978) 7: 323-348.
*2.W. Landes and R. Posner, “Altruism in Law and Economics”, American Economic Review – Papers and Proceedings (May 1978) 68: 417-421
10/5, 12C.Why are People Altruistic?
*1.A. Sen, “Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory,” Philosophy and Public Affairs (Summer 1977) 6: 317-344
2.B. Bolnick, “Toward a Behavioral Theory of Philanthropic Activity,” in Phelps, ed., 197-225.
2.Sociobiology
*a.J. Hirshleifer, “Competition, Cooperation and Conflict in Economics and Biology,” American Economic Review – Papers and Proceedings May (1978) 68: 238-243
*b.G. Becker, “Altruism, Egoism and Genetic Fitness,” Journal of Economic Literature (Sept. 1976) 14: 817-826.
3.Psychology
*a.R. Brandt, “The Psychology of Benevolence and its Implication for Philosophy,” Journal of Philosophy (August 12, 1976) 73: 429-453
b.J.Macaulay and L. Berkowitz , ed., Altruism and Helping Behavior Academic Press, N.Y., 1970, skim
*4.Indoctrination: B. Ward, The Socialist Economy, Random House, N.Y., 1967, 102-128.
10/19D.The Non-Profit Organization:
*1.B. Weisbrod, “Toward a Theory of the Voluntary Non-Profit Sector in a Three Sector Economy,” in E. Phelps, ed., Altruism, Morality, and Economic Theory, 171-195.
2.H. Hansmann, “The Role of Non-Profit Enterprise,” Yale University, mimeo, 1978.
3.A. Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty Harvard Univ. Press, 1970.
*4.J. Buchanan, “An Economic Theory of Clubs,” Economica ( Feb. 1965) 32: 1-14
10/26-1/2III.Corruption
A.The Relationship Between Bribes and Gifts.
1.Edward Van Roy, “On the Theory of Corruption,” Economic Development and Cultural Change (October 1970) 19: 86-110.
2.Gunnar Myrdal, “Corruption as a Hindrance to Modernization in South Asia,” in A. Heidenheimer, ed., Political Corruption, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1970, 229-242.
3.M. McMullan, “Corruption in the Public Services of British Colonies and Ex-Colonies in West Africa,” in Heidenheimer, ed., 317-330.
*4.D. Burnham, “How Police Corruption is Built into the System” in L. Sherman, ed., Police Corruption, Anchor Books, Garden City, N.Y., 1974, 305-314.
10/26 – 1/2B.The Pure “Rip-off” Model of Government.
*1.O. Johnson, “An Economic Analysis of Corrupt Government with Special Application to Less Developed Countries,” Kyklos (1975) 28: 47-61.
2.J. Waterbury, “Endemic and Planned Corruption in a Monarchical Regime” World Politics (July 1973) 25: 534-555.
3.J.C. Scott, Comparative Political Corruption, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1972, Chapters 6 and 7.
*4.R. Wolfinger, “Why Political Machines Have Not Withered Away and Other Revisionist Thoughts,” Journal of Politics (May 1972) 34: 365-398.
11/2, 9C.Corruption, Campaign Financing and the Legislature
1.S. Rose-Ackerman, Corruption: A Study in Political Economy, Academic Press, N.Y., 1978, pp. 1-58, 74-79.
*2.R.J. Barro, “The Control of Politicians: An Economic Model,” Public Choice (Spring 1973) 14: 19-42.
3.S. Peltzman, “Toward a More General Theory of Regulation,” Journal of Law and Economics (August 1976) 19: 211-240.
4.M. Fiorina, Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment, Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 1977.
*5.M. Fiorina and R. Noll, “Voters, Legislators and Bureaucracy: Institutional Design in the Public Sector,” American Economic Review – Papers and Proceedings (May 1978) 68: 256-260.
11/16, 30D.Market Organization Issues and Bureaucratic Corruption
*1.A. Kreuger, “The Political Economy of the Rent-Seeking Society,” American Economic Review (June 1974) 64: 291-303.
2.S. Rose-Ackerman, Corruption, pp. 85-92, 109-120, 132-234.
3.J. Bhagwati, ed., Illegal Transactions in International Trade North-Holland-American Elsevier, Amsterdam and New York, 1974.
*4.E. Banfield, “Corruption as a Feature of Government Organization,” Journal of Law and Economics, (December 1975) 18: 587-605.
5.J. Margolis, “Public Policies for Private Profits: Urban Government,” in Hochman and Peterson, eds., Redistribution through Public Choice, Columbia University Press, N.Y., 1974.
6.N. Leff, “Economic Development through Bureaucratic Corruption,” in Heidenheimer, ed., 510-520.
12/7E.Corruption and Law Enforcement
*1.G. Becker and G. Stigler, “Law Enforcement, Malfeasance and Compensation of Enforcers,” Journal of Legal Studies (January 1974) 3: 1-19.
*2.B.P. Pashigian “On the Control of Crime and Bribery,” Journal of Legal Studies (June 1975) 4: 311-327.
3.L. Sherman, ed., Police Corruption, Skim introduction, Sections III, IV, VI.
Source: Digitized photocopy reproduced in Economics Reading Lists, Course Outlines, Exams, Puzzles & Problems compiled by Edward Tower. Vol. 20 (July 1981): Public Choice, Political Economy, and the Economics of Public Policy & Law, pp. 119-122.
The Eno River Press Collection in Economics, compiled by Duke professor (now emeritus) Ed Tower, is the motherload of syllabi, problems sets, and exams from economics courses taught over roughly two decades at the end of the 20th century. Thanks to the initiative of Steven Medema, this material has been digitized and made available as .pdf files: 1980 (15 vols.); 1981 (25 vols.); 1990 (25 vols.); 1995 (25 vols.). There is an analogous set of volumes, likewise available in business administration.
Image Source: Yale Law School. “Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman Examines Anti-Corruption Reform in New Handbook” November 10, 2026.