Political Economy
6 pieces · 2.8 hours of reading
Capitalism: How Markets, Prices and Private Property Organise an Economy
Nobody is in charge of feeding a city of ten million people, and yet it gets fed every morning. Here is how that works, who explained it, what it has achieved, and its critics' best arguments.
Deep dive26 min02Socialism: The Many Kinds, From Utopians to Social Democracy
One word covers a Scottish mill owner, a German revolutionary, a Basque priest and a Danish welfare state. Here is how the family tree grew, what each branch actually proposes for the economy, and the best arguments for and against each.
Deep dive28 min03Communism: The Idea, the States, and What Happened
A dream of a world without bosses, classes or a state became, in practice, some of the most powerful states ever built. Here is the idea in its founders' words, how the communist economies actually worked, what they achieved, what they cost, and how people still argue about it.
Deep dive29 min04Anarchism: Order Without Rulers
Most people use "anarchy" to mean chaos. Its founders meant almost the opposite: a society organised so well from below that it no longer needs anyone on top. Here is what they proposed for the economy, the few times it was tried, and the hardest objections it faces.
Deep dive27 min05The Mixed Economy: Welfare States, Keynes, Neoliberalism and State Capitalism
Almost nobody lives under pure capitalism or pure socialism. Nearly everyone lives in some mixture of the two, and the last 140 years are the story of people arguing about the recipe.
Deep dive29 min06The Great Debates: Can Economies Be Planned?
A hundred-year argument about prices, knowledge and power, the natural experiments that tested it, and why computers have reopened it.
Deep diveInteractive29 min