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James Robinson gives in this talk a short introduction into the theory and ideas of his popular book "Why Nations Fail" which was published together with D. Acemoglu in 2012. With many real-life examples he gives a lively description on the fundamentals for economic success from an institutionalist view. According to Robinson, the nature of institutions is a crucial factor for economic success. Whether institutions are inclusive (such as in prosperous economies) or extractive (poor economies) stems from the nation's political process and the distribution of political power.
2014
Level: beginner
Why Nations Fail
The likely global impacts of the economic fallout from the Coronavirus and how we might be better prepared than the 2008 economic crisis to put forward progressive solutions.
2020
Level: beginner
The coming global recession: building an internationalist response
This paper investigates how the concept of public purpose is used in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). As a common denominator among political scientists, the idea of public purpose is that economic actions should aim at benefiting the majority of the society. However, the concept is to be considered as an ideal of a vague nature, which is highly dependent on societal context and, hence, subject to change over time. MMT stresses that government spending plans should be designed to pursue a certain socio-economic mandate and not to meet any particular financial outcome. The concept of public purpose is heavily used in this theoretical body of thought and often referred to in the context of policy proposals as the ideas of universal job guarantee and banking reform proposals show. MMT scholars use the concept as a pragmatic benchmark against which policies can be assessed. With regards to the definition of public propose, MMT scholars agree that it is dependent on the social-cultural context. Nevertheless, MMT scholars view universal access to material means of survival as universally applicable and in that sense as the lowest possible common denominator.
2020
Level: advanced
Modern Monetary Theory and the public purpose
In this one-on-one interview, co-host Gerardo Serra talks with Felwine Sarr, author of Afrotopia (2016) and professor of economics at Gaston Berger University in Senegal. Topics include the relevance (or lack thereof) of development economics to conditions in African economies, the significance of African philosophy for thinking about the economic problems of the continent, and the status of the field of history of economic thought in Africa.
2018
Level: beginner
Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar - A History of Economics Podcast
This brief note explores the possibility of working towards an enlarged self-definition of economics through economists’ study and appreciation of economic sociology. Common ground between economic sociology and heterodox economics is explored, and some of Richard Sennett’s ideas are used as prompts to raise some pertinent and hopefully interesting questions about economics. In particular, the note revisits the question of whether there is a possibility of changing our understanding of what kind of social scientific work falls within the domain of economics proper once we start critically engaging with work conventionally considered to be outside of that domain. In part, the note is intended to offer undergraduate students in economics – and possibly even those further down the road in their education – food for thought about what constitutes economics.
2016
Level: advanced
On the Possibility of an Enlarged Self-Definition of Economics
In this course we will critically analyze both economic theory and economic life through the lens of gender. Topics covered include: a critical examination of gender patterns and trends in the household, labor market, and the firm; issues concerning gender inequalities in the economy.
2014
Level: beginner
Gender and the Economy
"Energy issues have always been important in international relations, but in recent years may have become even more important than in the past due to the widespread awareness of existing limits to energy sources and negative climate impacts. The course discusses global trends in energy consumption and production, various available scenarios for potential developments in the coming decades, the availability of oil reserves and the evolution of the oil industry. It then discusses natural gas and highlights the differences between oil and gas. It will also discuss renewable energy sources, nuclear energy and EU energy policy. The course aims at providing students whose main interest is in international relations a background on energy resources, technology and economic realities to allow them to correctly interpret the political impact of current developments. It also aims at providing students, who already have a technical background in energy science or engineering, with the broad global view of energy issues that will allow them to better understand the social, economic and political impact of their technical knowledge."
Level: beginner
Politics and Economics of International Energy
This course will cover recent contributions in economic history that, using geospatial data from anthropological maps, colonial archives and secondary sources, will explore current economic and development challenges by drawing parallels between the past and present.
2022
Level: beginner
African History through the lens of Economics
Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change is an introduction to economics that explains how capitalism works, why it sometimes fails, and how it undergoes and brings about change. It discusses both the conventional economic model and the role of power in economic interactions.
2017
Level: beginner
Understanding Capitalism
In this classic work of economic history and social theory, Karl Polanyi analyzes the economic and social changes brought about by the "great transformation" of the Industrial Revolution.
2001
Level: advanced
The Great Transformation
Readers of economic and political theory as well as students of economic planning will appreciate this classic, now available for the first time in English. Written eighty years ago, when Sorel became disillusioned with the official socialism of the German and French Marxist parties, this new translation presents Sorel's analysis of the rise and fall of the two great modern ideologies: socialism and liberal capitalism.
2017
Level: advanced
Social Foundations of Contemporary Economics
A collection of the prolific economist's essays written since 1990, in sections on history of economic thought, methodology of economics, economics of education, cultural economics, and book reviews. Subjects include the work of Adam Smith, Hayek, and Keynes, the economic case for subsidies for the arts, the historiography of economics, and education and the employment contract. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
1997
Level: advanced
Not Only an Economist
This video explains what a co-operative is, discussing the different types, their history and purposes, before moving on to discuss the current state of the co-operative movement.
2019
Level: beginner
What is a Co-op?
This edited volume put together by Jimi Adesina based on the proceedings of the Social Policy in African Conference in 2017 provides an overview of social policy in varied country contexts and fields especially in light of decades of the reduction in size and hollowing out of the content of …
2021
Level: advanced
Social Policy in the African Context
This course offered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on edX provides an introduction in the major econometric tools used in standard Macroeconomics.
Level: advanced
Macroeconometric Forecasting
In this searing and insightful critique, Adrienne Buller examines the fatal biases that have shaped the response of our governing institutions to climate and environmental breakdown, and asks: are the 'solutions' being proposed really solutions? Tracing the intricate connections between financial power, economic injustice and ecological crisis, she exposes the myopic economism and market-centric thinking presently undermining a future where all life can flourish.
2022
Level: beginner
The Value of a Whale

In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk the land.

The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions behind market liberalism—the theory that market-based solutions are always best, regardless of the problem. For decades, their advocates dominated mainstream economics, and their influence created a system where an unthinking faith in markets led many to view speculative investments as fundamentally safe.

2012
Level: beginner
Zombie Economics
What narratives are underrepresented in the history of economic thought? How do economists account for freedom, justice, and democracy in non-Western cultures?
2025
Level: advanced
Decolonial Narratives in Economics
In this essay the author outlines the basis for embracing a post-work agenda, rooted in an emancipatory potential from the domination of waged work, which could help answer both feminist and ecological concerns with work.
2018
Level: beginner
Towards a post-work future: a necessary agenda to reconcile feminist & ecological concerns with work
Michael Kalecki famously remarked “I have found out what economics is; it is the science of confusing stocks with flows”. Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) models were developed precisely to address this kind of confusion. The basic intuition of SFC models is that the economy is built up as a set of intersecting balance sheets, where transactions between entities are called flows and the value of the assets/liabilities they hold are called stocks. Wages are a flow; bank deposits are a stock, and confusing the two directly is a category error. In this edition of the pluralist showcase I will first describe the logic of SFC models – which is worth exploring in depth – before discussing empirical calibration and applications of the models. Warning that there is a little more maths in this post than usual (i.e. some), but you should be able to skip those parts and still easily get the picture.
2020
Level: beginner
Stock Flow Consistent Macroeconomics
This course is intended to present some of the main ideas underlying the micro aspects of gender economics. The courses will tackle issues as fertility, marriage, women labor force participation, wage gap, gender inequality, violence against women and women empowerment within her household and within the society where she lives.
Level: advanced
Gender and Microeconomics
The goal of the course is to deepen students’ understanding of the Latin American development experience by viewing it through a gender lens.
2014
Level: advanced
Gender in Latin American Development
This syllabus provides an overview of the content of the Philosophy of Economics course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2015
Level: beginner
Philosophy of Economics
Teaching economics students about climate reparations enriches their educational experience by providing real-world relevance, promoting critical thinking, fostering interdisciplinary learning, and equipping them with valuable skills for both academic and practical applications. It also encourages ethical awareness, global perspective, and civic engagement, aligning with the broader goals of education in preparing students to address complex global challenges.
2022
Level: beginner
Policy Debate: Climate Reparations - Economy Studies
Economics has become a monolithic science, variously described as formalistic and autistic with neoclassical orthodoxy reigning supreme. So argue Dimitris Milonakis and Ben Fine in this new major work of critical recollection.
2009
Level: advanced
From Political Economy to Economics
Noneconomists often think that economists' approach to race is almost exclusively one of laissez-faire. Racism, Liberalism, and Economics argues that economists' ideas are more complicated.
2009
Level: advanced
Race, Liberalism, And Economics
How did Britain's economy become a bastion of inequality? In this landmark book, the author of The New Enclosure provides a forensic examination and sweeping critique of early-twenty-first-century capitalism. Brett Christophers styles this as 'rentier capitalism', in which ownership of key types of scarce assets--such as land, intellectual property, natural resources, or digital platforms--is all-important and dominated by a few unfathomably wealthy companies and individuals: rentiers.
2020
Level: beginner
Rentier Capitalism
Philosophy of Economics: A Contemporary Introduction is the first systematic textbook in the philosophy of economics introduces to the epistemological, metaphysical and ethical problems that arise in economics, and presents detailed discussions of the solutions that have been offered.
2013
Level: advanced
Philosophy of Economics
The book criticizes neoclassical climate economics in the tradition of William Nordhaus. It explains why this kind of thinking is misleading and why neoclassical climate economics asks the wrong questions.
2020
Level: advanced
Climate Economics
In China's Gilded Age, Yuen Yuen Ang maintains that all corruption is harmful, but not all types of corruption hurt growth. Ang unbundles corruption into four varieties: petty theft, grand theft, speed money, and access money.
2020
Level: beginner
China's Gilded Age
In both economics textbooks and public perceptions central banks are a fact of life. On the wall of my A-level economics classroom there was the Will Rogers quote “there have been three great inventions since the beginning of time: fire, the wheel, and central banking”, summarising how many economists view the institution. There is a widespread belief that there is something different about money which calls for a central authority to manage its operation, a view shared even by staunch free marketeers such as Milton Friedman. This belief is not without justification, since money underpins every transaction in a way that apples do not, but we should always be careful not to take existing institutions for granted and central banking is no exception. In this post I will look at the idea of private or free banking, where banks compete (and cooperate) to issue their own currency.
2020
Level: beginner
Whither Central Banks?
The world has seen the emergence of a rather different system of international lender of last resort organized as a network of central bank liquidity swap lines largely limited to the core countries of the Global North In this system central banks swap their own currency for dollars which they …
2021
Level: expert
“Where’s My Swap Line?”: A Money View of International Lender of Last Resort

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