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This book analyzes the transition of chocolate from an exotic curiosity to an Atlantic commodity. It shows how local, inter-regional, and Atlantic markets interacted with one another and with imperial political economies. It explains how these interactions, intertwined with the resilience of local artisanal production, promoted the partial democratization of chocolate consumption as well as economic growth.
2020
Level: advanced
Empire, Political Economy, and the Diffusion of Chocolate in the Atlantic World
The Great Recession 2.0 is unfolding before our very eyes. It is still in its early phase. But dynamics have been set in motion that are not easily stopped, or even slowed. If the virus effect were resolved by early summer—as some politicians wishfully believe—the economic dynamics set in motion would still continue. The US and global economies have been seriously ‘wounded’ and will not recover easily or soon. Those who believe it will be a ‘V-shape’ recovery are deluding themselves. Economists among them should know better but are among the most confused. They only need to look at historical parallels to convince themselves otherwise.
2020
Level: beginner
Origins & Emergence of the 2020 Great Recession in the US Economy
The Philosophy of Economics Foundational Text provides a systematic and well-structured overview over the field of philosophy of economics.
2023
Level: beginner
Philosophy of Economics
Marxian Political Economy focuses on the exploitation of labour by capital. The economy is not conceived as consisting of neutral transactions for exchange and cooperation, but instead as having developed historically out of asymmetric distributions of power, ideology and social conflicts.
Marxian Political Economy
This lecture is based on the “Introducing the Economy” chapter from the Economy Studies book, which introduces the first building block in their framework for transforming the economics education. The aim is to give students a feel and understanding of the economy as part of a bigger whole. Thus, it is aimed to introduce to students before getting into the economics curriculum with theory and models.
2022
Level: beginner
Introducing the Economy
This article outlines the fundamental challenges of democratically planned economies and categorises proposed models into six groups, each of which approaches planning and coordination at different levels of authority and between myriad economic units in a particular way, taking into account efficiency as well as democratic principles and environmental and social sustainability. Through a classification system based on decision-making authority and mediation mechanisms, the article provides a framework for understanding and comparing these models. By examining their different approaches, it offers insights into the complexities and potential paths of democratically planned economies in the 21st century.
2024
Level: beginner
Rethinking Democratic Economic Planning: An Overview
Crises are a key part of the history of the global economy. This lesson by Economy Studies introduces students to the crisis management theories of John Maynard Keyens by presenting them in the historical context of the Great Depression, the Post-War increase in the state in managing the economy, and the Energy Crisis of the 1970s.
2022
Level: beginner
How to get away with a crisis? - Economy Studies
What is sustainable development and what is the idea of a green economy? What is the role of the green economy in the current triple crisis? The short video discusses the concept and in particular the concerns about a green economy, especially with regards to inequality and poverty. The short statements in the video also reflect other possibilities of transformation.
2012
Level: beginner
Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social
The MINE website explores the interplay between nature and economy. Focusing on such fundamental concepts as time, thermodynamics, evolution, homo politicus and justice, a new outline of economic activity emerges within nature. The dominant approach of Mainstream Economics, which considers nature as a subsystem of the economy, is thus replaced by a broader and more integrated framework. The visual map and its links between concepts provides an orientation. The visitor can approach the content from their own starting point and follow their own path to discovery. Each concept starts with the historical background and moves on through theory and practice. The research behind MINE began in the 1970s at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in an interdisciplinary group spearheaded by Professor Malte Faber, including scientists from economics to mathematics, physics and philosophy. The research has contributed to the field of Ecological Economics. MINE is directed at students, scientists and decion-makers. More on http://nature-economy.de/faq/
2019
Level: beginner
MINE - Mapping the interplay between Nature and Economy
This report presents the results of the “Financial Mechanisms for Innovative Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems” project, designed to foster a better understanding of the different ways in which financial resources can be made available and accessed to support the growth of social and solidarity economy (SSE) organizations and their ecosystems. The project is supported by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social and Solidarity Economy of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
2019
Level: advanced
Financial Mechanisms for Innovative Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems
By conducting a discourse analysis (SKAD) in the field of academic economics textbooks, this paper aims at reconstructing frames and identity options offered to undergraduate students relating to the questions ‘Why study economics?’ and ‘Who do I become by studying economics?’. The analysis showed three major frames and respective identity offerings, all of which are contextualized theoretically, with prominent reference to the Foucauldian reflection of the science of Political Economy. Surprisingly, none of them encourages the student to think critically, as could have been expected in a pedagogical context. Taken together, economics textbooks appear as a “total structure of actions brought to bear upon possible action” (Foucault), therefore, as a genuine example of Foucauldian power structures.
2019
Level: beginner
The power of economic textbooks: A discourse analysis
What made the false assumption that saving the economy at all cost during a pandemic so popular? This paper discusses different pathways through the COVID-19 pandemic at national and international level, and their consequences on the health of citizens and their economies.
2021
Level: beginner
How not to save the economy? The interplay of economics and health during the COVID-19 pandemic
Adam Smith and Karl Marx recognized that the best way to understand the economy is to study the most advanced practice of production. Today that practice is no longer conventional manufacturing: it is the radically innovative vanguard known as the knowledge economy.
2019
Level: beginner
The Knowledge Economy
This course introduces students to political economy and the history of economic thought. We will cover the core ideas in various schools of economic thought, positioning them in the historical and institutional context in which they were developed. In particular, we will cover some economic ideas from the ancient world and the middle ages; the enlightenment; the emergence of and main ideas in classical political economy (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, and others); Marx, Mill, and Keynes; European versus American economic thought through history; the rise of mathematical economics; economic theories around state-managed economies versus socialism; Austrian economics; behavioral economics; and the future of economics.
2020
Level: beginner
Political Economy and the History of Economic Thought
The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope' brings together the most important contributions by an expert on policies, management and economics of innovation and knowledge. It offers original insights in processes of innovation and learning and it draws implications for economic theory and public policy. It introduces the reader to important concepts such as innovation systems and the learning economy.
2016
Level: advanced
The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope
The ecological crisis challenges the ways to understand the links between the environment, society, and the economy. To train students to be able to think critically about the issues associated with the crisis, it is important to take multiple perspectives into account. This lecture by Economy Studies can help students develop a familiarity with the different schools of thought and conceptions that exist within economics.
2022
Level: beginner
Perspectives on the Environment - Economy Studies
The third edition of Political Economy: The Contest of Economic Ideas is a fully updated overview of the political economy and its connection with social concerns. This book investigates the main traditions of economic ideas and provides a 'big picture' overview of the analytical tools and value judgements associated with competing schools of economic thought.
2011
Level: advanced
Political Economy
A short film that questions the current state of the economy with thought-provoking sequences and takes a look into the past how the present understanding of the economy came to be.
2018
Level: beginner
Economy is care
"This eleven-week course offers a pluralist introduction to political economy and economics. We will examine nine (9) competing schools of thought, each of which offer an original and distinctive illumination of economic and social reality. The course offers a level of learning that would at least match that which is offered by a University. However, you do not need to be connected to a university or to have studied political economy or economics previously to enrol in this particular subject."
2022
Level: beginner
An Introduction to Political Economy and Economics
The second edition of International Political Economy continues to be the perfect short introduction to the fundamental theories and issues of international political economy (IPE).
2018
Level: advanced
International Political Economy
Hamilton argues that economics lacks the political economy context in order to understand racism, and demonstrates how racism is embedded in the political economy of America.
2020
Level: beginner
How America’s Economy Runs on Racism
This is an introductory course into economics that navigates the intellectual history of political economy in a self-contained and non-technical manner. The course centres on the classical concept of political economy by emphasizing the moral and ethical problems that markets solve or may not solve.
2016
Level: beginner
Capitalism & Political Economy
This introductory text explores the political economy of water by defining the subject and examining its key issues.
2025
Level: beginner
The political economy of water
In this essay the author elaborates on the EU's perspective on the fast growing sector of the platform economy.
2019
Level: beginner
Sharing is Caring? On the EU- Narrative on Platform Economy
Extractivism is a development model based on exploiting and exporting raw materials. It is fundamental to reproducing entire societies, mainly in the Global South, while generating manifold dilemmas. This text situates extractivism within the broader landscape of global economic asymmetries, emphasizing the role of rents—excess revenues generated from resource extraction due to international price differentials—as a central analytical lens.
2025
Level: beginner
The Political Economy of Extractivism
The Centre for Economy Studies works on improving and modernising economics education to ensure that students will be better prepared for their future careers and the societal challenges we face today and in the coming decades. The Essential Lectures are teaching packs designed for 90-minute sessions that can be added to existing courses.
2022
Level: beginner
Economy Studies Essential Lectures
The principle of effective demand, and the claim of its validity for a monetary production economy in the short and in the long run, is the core of heterodox macroeconomics, as currently found in all the different strands of post-Keynesian economics (Fundamentalists, Kaleckians, Sraffians, Kaldorians, Institutionalists) and also in some strands of neo-Marxian economics, particularly in the monopoly capitalism and underconsumptionist school In this contribution, we will therefore outline the foundations of the principle of effective demand and its relationship with the respective notion of a capitalist or a monetary production economy in the works of Marx, Kalecki and Keynes. Then we will deal with heterodox short-run macroeconomics and it will provide a simple short-run model which is built on the principle of effective demand, as well as on distribution conflict between different social groups (or classes): rentiers, managers and workers. Finally, we will move to the long run and we will review the integration of the principle of effective demand into heterodox/post-Keynesian approaches towards distribution and growth.
2015
Level: advanced
The principle of effective demand: Marx, Kalecki, Keynes and beyond
This book looks at the anti-capitalist economy and the organization of social relations in the context of the revolution and autonomy of Rojava (Kurdistan-Syria).
2023
Level: beginner
Anticapitalist Economy in Rojava
What does decolonising economics mean? Eurocentrism continues to shape the discipline of economics, leading to inaccurate theories that frame Europe’s development as a universal model.
2025
Level: beginner
Decolonising economics: An illustration of the informal economy
This lecture by Economy Studies lays out the foundations and current state of the ecological crisis, its main drivers and who is responsible for this. It is crucial for students to develop a deeper understanding of the problem they are likely to encounter in their future careers, before getting into various economic policies or solutions to this pressing issue.
2022
Level: beginner
Economic Introduction to the Ecological Crisis - Economy Studies
This article, looks at the complex interaction between an urban economy and the vegetation within that urban area. In summary, numerous studies have found a positive link between increased vegetation and social as well as personal health. It makes a case for increasing urban vegetation as a way to benefit local economies.
2018
Level: beginner
Urban Arbonomics | The Complex Nature of Urban Vegetation
This Encyclopedia is a very first fully refereed A-Z compendium of the main principles, concepts, problems, institutions, schools and policies associated with political economy. Part 1 of a 2-volume set comprises entries from A-K.
1999
Level: advanced
Encyclopedia of Political Economy: A-K

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