Course content
In recent decades Europe has undergone a process of market integration and harmonization in economic governance and the regulation of business. However, European countries have experienced secular stagnation and in the past decade fallen behind the US in terms of growth and competitiveness, as highlighted in the 2024 Draghi report. European industries also face increasing competitive pressures from Chinese firms, especially in new technologies. These developments notwithstanding, there exists significant diversity among European countries in the institutions and policies shaping their economies, industries and firms. This course examines the nature and content of the common challenges that European countries faces as well as their diversity, focusing on domestic and regional factors as well as the evolution of the global political economy.
The theory taught in PEES thereby derives principally from comparative political economy and its intersection with international political economy. It considers debates between mainstream macroeconomics, post-Keynesian economics, and neo-Schumpeterian economics, discussing the evolution of these economic idea and debates about them in historical context as well as in the contemporary period. The course also delves into specific country experiences and covers economic policies featuring in current European public debates.
See course description in course catalogue