Curriculum Political Economy
Political Economy
How different economic systems are actually organized, and the political forces and institutions that shape them.
- Capitalism The core ideas behind capitalism, and the trade-offs that come with them. 📄 Read-aloud
- Socialism What socialism actually proposes, and the different forms it takes in practice. 📄 Read-aloud
- Mixed Economies Why nearly every real economy blends markets and government, and how countries differ in that blend. 📄 Read-aloud
- Political Economy: Checkpoint 1 Covers capitalism, socialism, and mixed economies. 5 questions
- Democracy and Economics How democratic decision-making shapes economic policy, and where that process runs into real friction. 📄 Read-aloud
- Public Choice Theory What happens when economists apply the same self-interest assumptions to politicians and voters that they apply to consumers. 📄 Read-aloud
- Institutions Why economists increasingly point to institutions, not just resources or policy, as the deepest driver of a country's prosperity. 📄 Read-aloud
- Political Economy: Checkpoint 2 Covers democracy and economics, public choice theory, and institutions. 5 questions
- Corruption How economists think about corruption's real costs, beyond the moral case against it. 📄 Read-aloud
- Property Rights Why secure property rights are considered a foundation of economic growth, and what happens where they're weak. 📄 Read-aloud
- Rent-Seeking Behavior Why some economic effort goes toward capturing existing wealth rather than creating new wealth - and why economists treat that distinction as important. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Role of Central Banks in a Political Economy Why central banks sit in an unusual position - wielding major economic power while being deliberately insulated from ordinary political accountability. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Economics of Bureaucracy Why government agencies tend to grow, and what economists think that reveals about how bureaucrats actually make decisions. 📄 Read-aloud
- Lobbying and Its Economic Effects Why organized groups spend heavily to influence policy, and what economists have found about who actually benefits. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Economics of Regulatory Capture How agencies created to oversee an industry can end up serving that industry's interests instead - and why it happens gradually. 📄 Read-aloud
- Comparing Welfare State Models Why different mixed economies build genuinely different kinds of social safety nets, not just more or less generous versions of the same one. 📄 Read-aloud
- Economic Populism Explained What economic populism actually argues, why it recurs across the political spectrum, and the real tradeoffs its policies tend to carry. 📄 Read-aloud
- Fiscal Federalism and Decentralization Which level of government should tax and spend on what, and why that division shapes everyday life more than it might seem. 📄 Read-aloud
- State Capitalism and Sovereign Wealth Funds How some governments act as major direct investors and business owners within otherwise market-based economies. 📄 Read-aloud
- Clientelism and Vote Buying How politicians trade favours, jobs and cash for political support, why it persists, and its economic costs. 📄 Read-aloud
- Freebies and Welfare Politics in India The debate over pre-election promises of free goods and cash in India, the line between welfare and freebies, and the fiscal consequences. 📄 Read-aloud
- Media, Information and Government Accountability How a free press and informed voters push governments to perform better, and what economic research shows about media and policy. 📄 Read-aloud
- Electoral Bonds and Political Finance in India How India's electoral bond scheme allowed anonymous donations to political parties, why the Supreme Court struck it down in 2024, and what it revealed about money in politics. 📄 Read-aloud