Political Economy Students' Journal
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Welcome to our Students' Journal
Welcome to our Students' Journal
Welcome to our Students' Journal
Welcome to our Students' Journal
International Political Economy
Refugee migrations are fundamentally political migrations, where individuals or groups are compelled to leave their home countries due to persecution, conflict, or systemic repression, which are inherently political in nature...
Onyedika Prince, Okoli | MSc in Political Economy
Social Constitution of the Economy
This essay will utilise the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu – namely, habitus, field, and capital – to analyse the broader climate justice movement and the actions of groups such as Just Stop Oil. By situating this movement within a Bourdieuian framework, it is possible to understand how class dynamics influence participation, behaviour, and outcomes...
Adam Waters | MSc in Political Economy
International Political Economy
In this essay I argue that globalisation does not foster the catching-up of less developed economies. Rather it actively and historically has limited the pace and ability of nations to catch up with the more advanced nations, using various methods and institutions that initially encourage their participation through active support to become the executioner if they were to step out of line and pursue alternative means and methods...
Kartikeya Krishna | MSc in Political Economy
Social Constitution of the Economy
This essay argues that tourism in the Peruvian Amazon both preserves and commodifies indigenous culture, creating a complex dynamic between economic necessity, cultural authenticity, and autonomy... It will examine how tourism shapes the representation of Indigenous identities, balancing the preservation of cultural heritage with the pressures of market-driven performance...
Daniel Ives | MSc in Political Economy
International Political Economy
The process of financialization occurring globally did not escape the opportunity to enter the so-called Emerging Capitalist Economies (ECE). The need to increase profits and expand markets proper to the capitalist mode of production is something that is happening now with the increasing role of financialization in the world economy. The emergence of this financial capitalism is leading to the creation of new types of dependency within countries...
Martin Salvado Carrillo | MSc in Political Economy
International Political Economy
This essay is an attempt to use existing literature from social reproduction theory and world-systems analysis to sketch out a theoretical framework for the argument that an important ...
Matthew Alexander | MSc in Political Economy
Comparative Political Economy
This essay will examine whether economic development necessarily leads to a disregard for planetary boundaries. This concept was first presented by Johan Rockström and other researchers in 2009 ...
Joana Celina Santos | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
Over the past weeks, Lisbon and other Portuguese cities were the stage for large popular marches and protests, marking the 50th year anniversary of the national democratic revolution of the 25th of April and May Day, this year of even greater importance ...
Dinis Santiago | MSc in Political Economy
Economic Thought
In his 1950 “Full Employment, Planning, and Inflation”, Friedrich Hayek lays out criticism of what he saw as the main drivers of economic policy after the II World War. Such analysis is mainly done in the theoretical realm, neglecting in some way the question of whether such premises have practical grounds behind it ...
Paulo Gomes | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
In his article for The New York Times “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profit” Milton Friedman argues that companies should only care about maximizing their shareholder value and only be restricted by the law while disregarding any other concerns ...
Roy Silva | MSc in Political Economy
Suggestions of the month
Open lecture with Mark Blyth
Topic: Inflation: a guide losers and users
"Mark Blyth is a political economist whose research focuses upon how uncertainty and randomness impact complex systems, particularly economic systems, and why people continue to believe stupid economic ideas despite buckets of evidence to the contrary. He is the author of several books, including "Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002), "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea" (Oxford University Press 2013, and "The Future of the Euro" (with Matthias Matthijs) (Oxford University Press 2015)" (Information taken from The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University )
You can watch the entire lecture here!
Exclusive interview done by Jornal Publico to Mark Blyth (here)
Book: Ways with Words (By Shirley Brice Heath)
In this book, the author analyses her experience in two communities one predominantly white and the other black. Here the focus is how language affects people's behavior and how that translates into school. This book is the culmination of a decade of groundwork which shows how language can affect education.
Book: Narconomics (By Tom Wainwright)
This book looks into the drug business as such and pretends to understand how it operates from that perspective instead of looking at it from a criminal perspective. Plenty of analogies are made in order to understand this economy in order to propose solutions to solve the problems which arise from the drug business.
Comparative Political Economy
The world that we live in today is divided in more ways than one, as it has been in many moments throughout history. The division of the world in Western and Eastern countries puts into evidence a geographical and developmental division...
Maria do Rosário Andrade | MSc in Political Economy
Comparative Political Economy
This essay provides a comparative analysis of the welfare states in Germany and Portugal, aiming to understand the variations in welfare systems in the Western world ...
Moritz T. Justin | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
According to the Cambridge dictionary, meritocracy is a “a social system, society, or organization in which people get success or power because of their abilities, not because of their money or social position” ...
Roy Silva | MSc in Economics and Public Policies
International Political Economy
The discourse on the effects of globalization remains central in international political economy. While recently questions on the environmental sustainability of global-value-chains and the possibility of regionalization and de-growth have gained a lot of traction...
John Sokol | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
To understand the current state of the communication sector in Portugal – a reflection of the broader political scenario –, we must necessarily look at the class struggle fought within the belly of the media corporations...
Pedro Tomás Antunes | MSc in Political Economy
Suggestions of the month
Political Economy of the European Peripheries Summer School 2024
This annual Summer School will be about The Socio-Economic (Re)Production of Peripheries: Challenges and Possibilities. It is the second summer school organized by the Portuguese Association for Political Economy and in this event the participants have the opportunity to develop their scientific knowledge in the field of Political Economy.
Location: Évora (Portugal)
Date: July 7th to 14th 2024
Submission deadline: April, 15, 2024 (17:00 PM, current time Lisbon - London)
Website for further information
Open lecture with Mark Blyth
Topic: Inflation: a guide losers and users
"Mark Blyth is a political economist whose research focuses upon how uncertainty and randomness impact complex systems, particularly economic systems, and why people continue to believe stupid economic ideas despite buckets of evidence to the contrary. He is the author of several books, including "Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002), "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea" (Oxford University Press 2013, and "The Future of the Euro" (with Matthias Matthijs) (Oxford University Press 2015)" (Information taken from The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University )
Free entrance
Location: Auditório JJ Laginha, Ed. Sedas Nunes - ISCTE
Date: April 18th 2024, at 5 pm
Website for further information
Book: Christian Fuchs Communication and Capitalism: A Critical Theory (By Christian Fuchs)
This book may be interesting literature for those who seek to understand the role of communication in modern capitalism through a materialist lens, picking up from where Jürgen Habermas left up.
Labour Market
In economic theory, the relationship between states and markets is a central and highly debated topic. While some argue that government intervention in the economy is necessary to address market failures and promote the welfare of citizens, others believe that the market should be left to operate freely, with minimal interference from the state ...
Waqas Satti, Miguel Duarte, John Sokol
| MSc in Political Economy
Financialization
The world we live in nowadays has many distinctive features and is evolving at a very rapid pace. We can attribute many characteristics to the environment that surrounds us but is undeniable the role that both music and finance play in our everyday lives...
Maria do Rosário Andrade | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
It is hard to look at today’s society (or any other in the past, for that matter) and not look at the power relationships that are formed between individuals and between individuals and institutions...
João Nunes | MSc in Economics and Public Policies
Economic Thought
Modern Economics as an academic discipline was developed with the aim in mind of making it autonomous from other fields of study. Via condemning practices involving certain “normative” characteristics, economists sought to...
Paulo Gomes | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
Political Economy is a broad interdisciplinary field that can focus on phenomena such as growth, distribution, inequality, or trade, and how these are shaped by institutions, laws, and government policy...
Kian Stoupignan | MSc in Political Economy
Suggestions of the month
7th Annual Political Economy Meeting
This annual meeting is organized by the Portuguese Political Economy Association and will be held at ISEG, in Lisbon. From January 25 to 27, with the theme “Politics and Democracy: Reimagining the world in the 50 years since 25 April”, the program includes a series of sessions and debates about different Political Economy topics.
Website: 7th Annual Political Economy Meeting
Podcast: Mão Visível (By Mariana Esteves and Rui Maciel)
This Portuguese podcast was created by two economists, Mariana Esteves (PhD Student @ Nova SBE) and Rui Maciel (MSc in Economics @ Nova SBE). They discuss different topics connected to the economy, politics and other topics. In some of the most recent episodes they talk about: the work of the economist Mariana Mazzucato, Education, and Portugal’s abstention in the elections.
Movie: The Big Short (By Adam McKay)
It is a movie released in 2015 and it is based on some true facts regarding the 2008 financial crisis that started in the USA. Through the movie it is explained as a few people in the financial sector detect that something was wrong with the house market and with the financial assets associated to it. It is presented how a few people manage to bet the market by studying it while the world economy collapsed.
Movie: Merchants of Doubt
Based on the book "Merchants of Doubt" by Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway the documentary explains the origins of climate denialism, agents and institutions involved, and how they were able to effect discourse and action against this issue. It is a good example how a scientific problem at surface, becomes a political as well when power is involved.
Documentary: Inside Job (By Charles Fergunson)
This 2010 American documentary movie discusses the key financial and political players of the late 2000s financial crisis. In its 5 parts, the film explores how the changes in policies and banking practices influenced the crisis. The director claims that the movie is about "the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry and the consequences of that systemic corruption".
International Economy
The BRICS bloc, formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is one of the most prominent groups of emerging economies. While its development has brought advantages for this group of countries ...
Bianca Chaim Mattos | MSc in Political Economy
Economic Thought
Imagine a village of herdsmen living together, taking advantage of the surrounding pastures to feed their cattle. Each villager owns a certain number of animals ...
Miguel Duarte | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
To the surprise of few people, the recent election in Madeira presented the incumbent social democrats with another victory as has been the case for the past four decades. However this last election was not business as usual...
Jonas Souto | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
I went to a bookstore recently and was struck by the extensive presence of marketing self-help books and investment guides dominating the economics section. This observation led me to reflect on the intriguing intersection of economics and marketing ...
Pedro Tomás Antunes | MSc in Political Economy
International trade
Climate change is one of humanity’s greatest challenges for the decades to come, and solving this problem requires that the global economy takes a more sustainable path...
André Pinto & Mariana Cardoso | MSc in Political Economy
Suggestions of the month
Book: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think (By Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund )
How much do you think you know about the rest of the world? Factfulness is the perfect reading to challenge your view of the political and socioeconomic landscape of the world by presenting us with data that illustrates that the world is less pessimistic than what we paint it to be.
Book: Capitalism and Freedom (By Milton Friedman)
In one of his most influential works, Milton Friedman delves deep into the debate between government intervention and individual freedoms, testing the limits one poses to the other. In doing so, he advances his argument that for a society to be truly free, the government should be shaped around the defence of individual rights and the freedom of the market.
Money Museum (Banco de Portugal):
It is a museum in the centre of Lisbon that presents the history of money throughout the centuries from the barter times to the current years. It presents the evolution of money, more specifically the evolution of coins and banknotes. Last Friday, 24th November, some of the students from the first year of the Master of Political Economy had the opportunity to visit this museum and interconnect the history of money and the role of money nowadays.
Address: Largo de São Julião, 1100-150 Lisboa
Website: Museu do Dinheiro
Economic Thought
F.A. Hayek’s Moral Constitution
Thoughts and Reflections on the moral philosophy of THE ”Austrian” Economist
Friedrich August Hayek was a prominent economist and political philosopher of the 20th century, known for his critiques of central planning and interventionism in economic and political systems. In his two most ...
John Sokol | MSc in Political Economy
Finance and Housing Market
The financialization of housing, defined by the United Nations’ Human Rights Office (2021) as “the phenomenon [that] occurs when housing is treated as a commodity—a vehicle for wealth and investment—rather than a social good” ...
André Pinto | MSc in Political Economy
International trade
In this paper, it is argued that Multinationals can have a negative impact on democracies. The primary objective of this article is to draw the link between Multinationals and democracies and how the former influences the latter.
Joana Celina Santos | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion article
On July 11th, 2023, the European Parliament adopted its position on the European Union Nature Restoration Law, with 336 votes in favor, 300 against, and 13 abstentions. Following this proposal, a vote was conducted to reject the Commission’s position ...
Dália Soto | MSc in Political Economy
Opinion Article
The beginning of the year was marked by the expansion of the Eurozone to the Balkans, with Croatia's adoption of the Euro. While an important step for the country’s further integration into the European Union ...
Paulo Gomes | MSc in Political Economy
Suggestions of the month
Book: J is For Junk Economics (By Michael Hudson)
In this book, classical economist Michael Hudson decides to make a dictionary of economics where he explains a few concepts and terms utilized in this field. Nevertheless, there is a catch on these explanations since on some concepts he gives a historical context in others he provides his interpretation and clarifies where he sees an "Orwellian doublespeak".
Book: The Value of Everything (By Mariana Mazzucato)
In this book, the New Shumpetarian economist Mariana Mazzucato reflects on the concept of value and its importance for the economy. Throughout the book, she describes the history of economic thought and how it influenced the way the economy is measured as well as its implications.
Her thesis leans on the idea that the state is absent of those measurements and how a theory of value encompasses it.
Movie: Invisible hand - a history of neoliberalism in Portugal (2020)
This movie is a historical documentary made by CES (Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra) that explains how neoliberalism was introduced and how it changed Portuguese institutions and economic curriculums. It contains several interviews with Portuguese economists explaining in more detail what happened during the period when crucial decisions regarding these matters were made.
Podcast: The Rodes Center Podcast
This podcast is made by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University and its host is Mark Blyth, a Political Scientist and Professor of International Political Economy at this University. In this Podcast, he invites several guests to talk about different topics contained in their books. The conversation ranges from many areas within the economy, depending on the book chosen.