Diving deep into economic theory is not for everyone, but it should be less intimidating. You shouldn’t need a degree in economics to feel like you can participate in the political conversations about our economic structures and how they impact society. After all, this is an issue that directly affects every single one of us. You can’t afford to tap out.
So, if you are interested in fighting neoliberal ideas and helping move our country toward economic policies that work for everyone but you’d like to bolster your econ education, you need to check out The CORE Project.
This organization began with the publication of an ebook called “The Economy ebook” and has expanded to create open-access, interactive ebook-based courses for anyone interested in learning about the economy and economics. Their mission is to create a community of learners and teachers collaborating to make economics accessible and relevant to today’s problems.
CORE is question-motivated and designed to teach through models based on facts from history, experiments and data. It’s also a collaborative project and uses insights on the economy from a wide range of historical, geographical, disciplinary and methodological perspectives, with a focus on:
- Economic actors as both self-interested and ethical
- Why supply and demand are sometimes not equal, especially in markets for labour and credit
- Not only equilibria, but also how prices, quantities, and technologies change
- The importance of economic rents for the working of a modern capitalist economy
- How institutions differ among economies, and what difference this makes for macroeconomic performance
If any of that sounds over your head, remember that the whole point of CORE is that by the end of the course it won’t be.
Head over to core dash econ dot org to register and download the ebook for free. Then, explore their self-paced exams, labs, practice problems, a complete glossary, resources for teachers and additional resources that compliment the courses connected to the ebook.
So, if brushing up on economic theory so you can help fix our broken system is important to you, be sure to hit the share buttons to spread the word about Expanding Your Economic Knowledge with The CORE Project via social media so that others in your network can spread the word too.
TAKE ACTION!
Expand your economic knowledge for free with The CORE Project
EDUCATE YOURSELF
Making economics exciting (Bloomberg)
Does economics still work? (BBC World Service)
Has the way universities teach economics changed enough? (The Guardian)
Posted August 15, 2017; Written by Best of the Left Communications Director, Amanda Hoffman
Hear the segment in the context of Best of the Left Edition #1126: Explaining the concept you need to understand, Neoliberal Economics
