This course offers a critical introduction to the central ideas used by Political Economists to understand the structure, social meaning, and historical development of capitalist economies. Lectures draw on competing traditions in Political Economy to provide a critical appreciation of the defining socio-economic relationships of capitalism, including wages, productivity, profits, inequality, prices, entrepreneurship, markets, capitalism, growth, crises, recessions, socialism, etc. While these discussions necessarily involve economic theory, the overall emphasis is on how an analytically diverse understanding of these relationships can open up unique, critical perspectives into the problems of contemporary capitalism. The course will thus prepare students for well-grounded, critical engagement with debates about income distribution, financial crises and recessions, fiscal austerity, globalization, the role of finance in contemporary economies, and on the long-term future of capitalism. The course will also introduce students to current discussions on the usefulness and limitations of contemporary Economics.

This course offers a critical introduction to the central ideas used by Political Economists to understand the structure, social meaning, and historical development of capitalist economies. Lectures draw on competing traditions in Political Economy to provide a critical appreciation of the defining socio-economic relationships of capitalism, including wages, productivity, profits, inequality, prices, entrepreneurship, markets, capitalism, growth, crises, recessions, socialism, etc. While these discussions necessarily involve economic theory, the overall emphasis is on how an analytically diverse understanding of these relationships can open up unique, critical perspectives into the problems of contemporary capitalism. The course will thus prepare students for well-grounded, critical engagement with debates about income distribution, financial crises and recessions, fiscal austerity, globalization, the role of finance in contemporary economies, and on the long-term future of capitalism. The course will also introduce students to current discussions on the usefulness and limitations of contemporary Economics.