Political Economy Students' Journal
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Welcome to our Students' Journal
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.