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Steven G. Medema is a Research Professor at Duke University. His research focuses on the History of Economic Thought, having published extensively on the issue of social costs of production (conceptualized as externalities in neoclassical economics). In this recorded seminar, he exposes his working paper on the history of the concept of externalities in economic literature, starting from Pigou’s “The Economics of Welfare” (1920), where Pigou makes the case for governmental intervention in the market where there is a divergence between private and social costs or benefits of a productive activity. T
2017
Level: advanced
'Exceptional and Unimportant'? The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Externalities in Economic Analysis
The Nobel laureate Amartya Sen´s text analyzes three main figures in social sciences and the relation between them: the Italian economist Piero Sraffa, the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the Italian politician and philosopher Antonio Gramsci.
2003
Level: advanced
Sraffa, Wittgenstein, and Gramsci
The term "de-risking" can be seen as one element of a strategy aimed at discursively reframing the trade policy confrontation with China. This confrontation has mainly been driven by the US in recent years and received initially cautious, but later growing support from the EU.
2023
Level: beginner
De-risking, de-coupling, de-globalization?
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
The chapter by the Centre for Economy Studies introduces interdisciplinary economic subdisciplines and their importance for economics education.
2021
Level: beginner
Interdisciplinary Economics
The infographic focuses on women's hidden work that goes unrewarded due to the patriarchal setup and how it can be economically analysed. The article on which the infographic is based is written in an Indian context, although the phenomenon isn't confined to a single nation alone.
2013
Level: beginner
Capitalism + Patriarchy = Women's Hidden Work
This article introduces the series, “Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post- Independence History,'' from Post-Colonialisms Today. It explores the policies and thinking of African governments in the early post-independence period, and the lessons for today’s struggles for political and economic agency on the continent.
2020
Level: beginner
Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post-Independence History
"Alexander Kravchuk is an economist and editor at Commons: Journal for Social Criticims, who has previously written about IMF conditions on loans to Ukraine. Jacobin’s David Broder asked him about the country’s economic situation and why debt cancellation is important if Ukrainians are to be able to shape their future." (quote from the interview)
2022
Level: beginner
To Help Ukraine, Cancel Its Foreign Debt
Cédric Durand locates the Russian War on Ukraine in relation to Russian Economic Development and Political Economy after the collapse of the soviet union.
2022
Level: beginner
Cold Peace
In this short essay, Jayati Ghosh gives an overview over the multiple ways in which the economic "fall-out" of the War in Ukraine is hitting economies and societies in the developing world.
2022
Level: beginner
Putin’s War Is Damaging the Developing World
This chapter by the Centre for Economy Studies explores how courses on the history of economic thought and methods could look if they were pluralist and interdisciplinary.
2021
Level: beginner
Rethinking the History of Economic Thought & Methods
This chapter by the Centre of Economy Studies provides a map through the complex jungle of economic theories. It provides key insights and ideas for thirteen core topics in economics, organised by selecting the most relevant theoretical approaches per topic and contrasting them with each other.
2021
Level: beginner
Pragmatic Pluralism
Fabian Georgi analyses how migration and borders are connected to capitalism.
2024
Level: advanced
Recruiting skilled labour, while closing borders? The connection between migration, border regimes and capitalism
Usually, Critical Theory and Economics are, for better or worse, no longer seen to be in a continuum. This article by Lukas Meisner serves as an introduction to Critical Theory for all (heterodox) economists, who want to understand and explain what they can, otherwise, just state and describe.
2024
Level: beginner
Critical Theory for Heterodox Economists: Questioning the Premises of Supply and Demand
This note, by Theresa Neef, Panayiotis Nicolaides, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Gabriel Zucman, provides data on wealth inequality in Russia and advocates for a European Asset Registry.
2022
Level: beginner
Effective sanctions against oligarchs and the role of a European Asset Registry
"Yuliya Yurchenko is a senior lecturer and researcher in political economy at University of Greenwich. She is currently in Ukraine on an extraordinary leave. And while she writes that she is, for the moment, in relative safety, that could change any moment. Being a Ukrainian, an activist and an academic, Yuliya traveled to Ukraine on Feb 19, 2022 as part of a fact-finding and solidarity mission with a number of MPs, trade unionists and journalists. The goal, she says, of this mission is to connect with civil society organizations, trade unions, activists and politicians, and “to express direct, cross-border solidarity from the UK working class to the Ukrainian working class.”
2022
Level: advanced
Yuliya Yurchenko expands the frame for understanding the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In this article, Hannah Ritchie presents the data we need to understand the scale of their contribution, and which countries are most reliant on Ukraine for their food supplies.
2022
Level: beginner
How could the war in Ukraine impact global food supplies?
This article explores the production function, the prevailing view of capital that underpins it, and the main alternative perspective. By exploring these perspectives, the authors aim to provide students with a foundational understanding of the controversies surrounding the treatment of capital in production, a topic expressly excluded from mainstream textbooks.
2024
Level: beginner
Why We Should Think Twice About Production Functions
In this text, Fred Heussner takes up the debate on anti-fascist economics, places it in the context of existing developments and identifies potential for further development.
2024
Level: beginner
Anti-fascist economics? For sure! But what does that mean?
Western sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine quickly led the Ruble to lose more than 45 percent of its value. But these days, the Russian currency is back to its pre-war value. Cameron and Adam explain the turnaround and discuss what it means for the war.
2022
Level: beginner
How the Russian Ruble Bounced Back
This course introduces students to the relevance of gender relations in economics as a discipline and in economic processes and outcomes.
2015
Level: beginner
Gender relations and Economics
Aim: to work out jointly with students a systematic perception of how the gender factor can impact on economic and demographic development. This course is pioneering: it is the first time that such a course has been introduced into the curriculum of a Russian higher educational institution with a focus on economics.
Level: advanced
Gender Economics
This report by the 'Institute for Global Prosperity' explores the hypothesis that strengthening and extending universal services is an effective way of tackling poverty and improving wellbeing for all.
2019
Level: beginner
Universal Basic Services: Theory and Practice
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
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
Ever wondered why some countries are rich and others poor Or why some people believe hard work results in upward mobility and others don t To answer these questions you need to see the world sociologically In this introductory sociology course we will explore the concerns of an interconnected global …
Level: beginner
Global Sociology
This course is an introduction to Development Economics and is concerned with how economists have sought to explain how the process of economic growth occurs, and how – or whether – that delivers improved well-being of people.
2015
Level: advanced
Development Economics
Sabel and Zeitlin present the persistence of small firms in Europe against the rise of mass production and modern enterprises Their article starts by analysing how mass production can be considered a historical necessity for the classical view as it is a highly specialized structure where man and machine can …
1985
Level: advanced
Historical Alternatives to Mass Production: Politics, Markets and Technology in Nineteenth-Century Industrialization
When you notice inequality in your everyday life do you ever wonder where it comes from and what keeps it going This sociology course introduces you to core concepts of class gender and racial inequality and an approach to studying complex forms of inequality called intersectionality Featuring interviews with top …
Level: beginner
Global Inequality
What are the challenges and opportunities for achieving decent work in global supply chains How do transnational corporations and their global supply chains operate How can they be more effectively governed Mark Anner Esther Busser Michael Fichter Tandiwe Gross Frank Hoffer Jenny Holdcroft Praveen Jha Maité Llanos Adam Lee Victor …
Level: beginner
Decent Work in Global Supply Chains
Is our knowledge of the world essentially rational What does it mean to be burdened with the gift of rationality Philosopher Corine Besson considers the nature of humanity s defining trait Corine Besson iai University of Sussex
Level: beginner
Knowledge and Rationality
This course is an introduction to the economic theories of financial crises It focuses on amplification mechanisms that exacerbate crises such as leverage fire sales bank runs interconnections and complexity It also analyzes the different perspectives on the origins of crises such as mistaken beliefs and moral hazard and discusses …
Level: beginner
Financial Crises

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