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Introductory Reading
Economics:
- Harford - The Undercover Economist
- Dubner and Levitt - Freakonomics
- Thaler & Sunstein - Nudge
- Heilbroner - The Worldly Philosophers
- Galbraith - The Great Crash 1929
- Chang - Edible Economics
Philosophy:
- Singer - Practical Ethics
- Blackburn - Think
- Williamson - Doing Philosophy
Politics:
- Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy (3rd ed, 2015)
- Acemoglu & Robinson- Why Nations Fail [introduction only]
- Autobiographies of world leaders
Crossover:
- ‘Very short introduction’ book series- find a couple which take your fancy!
- Tegmark- Life 3.0 (about AI, a very important topic at the moment)
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More books
- How Westminster Works…and Why It Doesn’t – Ian Dunt
- Too Big To Fail – Andrew Sorkin
- Doughnut Economics – Kate Raworth
- Value(s): Building a Better Work – Mark Carney (he used to run Bank of England)
- Why We Get the Wrong Politicians – Isabel Hardman
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Podcasts
- Talking Politics: History of Ideas
- 50 Things that Made the Modern Economy
- OxPods (PPE section)
- A new podcast produced by current oxford students, interviewing their tutors on a range of topics
- A new podcast produced by current oxford students, interviewing their tutors on a range of topics
- Political Currency (Ed Balls & George Osborne)
- Overlap between politics/ economics is well presented due to the fact both were key to their parties’ economic offerings during their career.
- Overlap between politics/ economics is well presented due to the fact both were key to their parties’ economic offerings during their career.
- Philosophy Bites
- The Daily from the NY Times
- Would be particularly helpful for year 12 students thinking ahead to the TSA (entrance exam), which assesses critical thinking skills
- Economics Explained
Podcasts which may be biased but are worth listening to in a critical way:
- The Rest is Politics with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart
- Pod Save the UK / Pod Save America
- Talking Politics: History of Ideas
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News sources
The Economist. No need to read cover-to-cover, pick some sections that interest you and read them critically. In addition, you can use The Economist for:
- Podcasts on Spotify
- Read the articles in the section for quick introductions to the major theories in economics. Make sure to click through all the pages!
- Email briefings (daily and weekly)
Financial Times - Sign up for the and read the weekend editions for long-form analysis.
- Podcasts on Spotify
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Essay competitions
- Royal Economics Society Young Economist of the Year
- St Hugh’s Oxford
- Trinity College Cambridge essay prizes in , , (this one has a number of questions so you can choose one which interests you).
- Royal Economics Society Young Economist of the Year
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Fiction
- Gaarder - Sophie’s world.
- Introduction to the history of philosophy, presented in a fun, approachable way
- Camus - The Plague
- Interesting parallels to the Covid-19 Pandemic
- Orwell - 1984
- Huxley - Brave New World
- Gaarder - Sophie’s world.
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Films and YouTube videos
- The Big Short- on the 2008 financial crisis
- Then & Now Channel
- Kahnemann- Thinking, Fast and Slow
- The Big Short- on the 2008 financial crisis