Standard economics portrays people as representative households that respond effectively to economic incentives and available information. But decades of sociological and psychological research has shown that people are highly influenced by norms and their environment. From where we work and live to what we consume – our lives are highly influenced by our socioeconomic background … Continue reading The Philosophy, Sociology and Economics of Class

In 1992, Fukuyama argued humanity might have reached the “end of history”, referring to the idea that capitalism is now the only viable economic system, being adopted by all countries. In this light, talking about ‘alternatives to capitalism’ can feel arcane and from another era. At the same time, rising inequality, poverty, polarisation and climate … Continue reading The Ethics of Capitalism

Government spending and central bank actions are fundamental drivers of economic activity. These so-called macroeconomic policies influence every part of the economy, ranging from the labour market, to the housing market to business investment.  For a long time, the core laws of macroeconomics seemed clear. But the 2008/09 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic upset the … Continue reading Debt, inflation and employment after the pandemic

Capitalist economies are undergoing rapid changes, leading to new grievances and the revival of old challenges in a new guise. Firstly, economic inequalities could approach the levels of the Belle Époque, injecting new life into questions about the justifiability of capitalism. Secondly, technology could fundamentally change the labour market, providing new opportunities but also raising … Continue reading The Future of Capitalism

The findings from climate economics are clear: transitioning the economy to limit global warming -- to 2 degrees or less -- is possible. For decades, economists have built detailed models of the economy that estimate what individual countries and individual sectors of the economy would have to do, to prevent global warming. They also include … Continue reading The economics and the design of socially just climate policies

Big corporations are on the rise. For instance, in ten percent of industries in the US, only four firms control the vast majority of the market. Some bigger corporations are more productive and innovative than some small ones. But big corporations also have more market power. They find it easier to set high prices, establish … Continue reading Big Corporations and Social Justice

We explore European economic policy with a focus on the common currency, the Euro. We will employ political, economic and philosophical perspectives to discuss a variety of key aspects: why and how did the Euro come into being? What does sharing a common currency imply for the Member States? How is the euro area governed … Continue reading The Political Economy of the Eurozone

What is capital and income, and how have they evolved over time? How unequally are they distributed?  And what are the moral implications of this? To answer these questions, in this seminar, we will study Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ and will put it into the context of the modern financial system.  We … Continue reading Capital, finance and justice

We use epistemology, the study of knowledge and justified belief, to investigate decision making in social, political and financial situations. Against the backdrop of debates about financial bubbles, fake news and populism, we investigate what we can know and what we are justified in believing. We approach applied epistemology through two lenses: epistemic virtues (individual), … Continue reading What to believe now? Applied epistemology, information markets, and networks

Human decision makers are increasingly replaced by self-learning computer algorithms in economic decision making. Such algorithms use personal data (ranging from one’s post code to medical history and Facebook friends) to score and rank people. Such rankings, in turn, can determine who gets offered a job, who gets offered a loan and under what conditions … Continue reading The Ethics and Governance of Algorithmic Decision Making