The course will rely heavily on class discussion. In any given class, first we will motivate the main topic with reference to current policy debates, relevant recent or historical data, and public pronouncements by prominent people. Then the teacher will offer a structure to discuss the issues arising from the topic and introduce the most useful economic concepts and tools for thinking through these issues. The bulk of our attention will be on looking critically at each issue from all the possible angles, and we will search for data on the internet as necessary to support the various arguments. We will refrain from seeking a common, unified conclusion; it will be up to each student to weigh the arguments and form their own overall views on the topic.

Each student will pick a country at the beginning of the course and will find and maintain a record of key data that is relevant to each topic that we discuss throughout the course. This will form a country dossier by the end of the course, which will be graded as an individual student activity.

In the first week, we will establish a shared base of understanding on basic economic concepts (such as capitalism, value, and money) and tools (such as public sector accounts, cost-benefit analysis, and analysis of trade-offs). In the second week, we will look at key modern drivers of the economy, such as globalised trade, financialization, technological change, climate change, and population ageing.

In the third week, we will look at what this all means in terms of recent and future prospects for economic outcomes such as growth, inequality, and inflation. We will conclude with a reflection on the nature of economics as a field of knowledge.